Superboy and the Invisible Girl
by Cynder2013
Summary: Delilah An is almost ordinary. Her parents are divorced, her older brother is way too protective, and schoolwork is enough of a non-issue that it's almost funny. When she gains superpowers and meets (read: fights with) a certain Boy of Steel, her life is sure to take a turn, for better or for worst.
1. Power Play(Before)

**Super-massive A/N: STOP! READ THIS! Before you start reading this story, you need to know how it's going to work. This story is going to take place within two universes, the pre-New 52 universe, and the New 52 universe. The chapters are going go back and forth between the universes, except for one chapter that is going to be out of order. Aside from this chapter, I am planning to put the whole story out at the same time, so the order will make sense when you read it.**

 **Each chapter will have a title and each title will be repeated. For example, there will be two chapters titled "Superboy-Prime". Each chapter will be labeled 'Before' or 'After', indicating which universe it takes place in. So "Superboy-Prime (Before)" would take place in the pre-New 52 universe, and "Superboy-Prime (After)" would take place in the New 52 universe. (If you have no clue about what I mean by the two different universes, then you might want to look up "New 52" before you start reading this.)**

 **There will be two different story lines going on, but I'm writing them in a way that causes them to line up. You are, of course, perfectly welcome to read only the "Before" story line or only the "After" story line. I just wanted to write both and thought that it wold be interesting to put them together this way.**

 **As of right now I only have 40 words of the next first chapter written (yes, I counted) but I'm not happy with what I have and will probably delete all of it and start over. I have 15 chapters left to write, so this whole story won't be updated for a while. I just wanted to put this up to see if anyone is interested in reading this, though I would write the entire story regardless. I promise that I will work on this, probably often as I'm getting a little tired of writing _Percy Jackson and the Olympians_ stuff (meaning that my writing is suffering for what I'm writing for _The Children of Egypt)_.**

 **Please tell me what you think, and any random theories you might have about this story. You might be able to jolt my brain into coming up with what to write faster.**

 **Also, because DC characters and locations are complicated, if you can type something I wrote into this story into Google and come up with links that relate to DC, it's probably not mine. I will tell you that I make up a town, two superheroes,one supervillain, and some supporting characters, but everything else comes from DC creators, Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, and other people who are not me.**

 **Thank you for taking your time to read this. Well, I hope you did, or you are going to be confused about what's going on.**

 **-Cynder2013**

* * *

Power Play

(Before)

It was late at night. The streets of San Francisco, California, were still busy, though not as busy as they would be during the day. Taxi drivers made their rounds, most of them only an hour or so away from calling it a night. A few personal vehicles, cars, motorcycles and such, traveled through the streets, their drivers wanting to make it home as soon as they could. In doorways, alleys, and bus stops the city's homeless slept as the warm summer weather made it safe enough to remain outside overnight. On one side of the city the tower containing S.T.A.R. Labs' metahuman research facility was lit up like a Christmas tree, on the other side of the city windows in Titan's Tower were also lit up, albeit fewer than S.T.A.R. Labs.

For both scientists and superheroes, work was never finished.

The sidewalks were almost empty, which meant that Trivia and Carpenter had to walk at a leisurely pace in order to not draw attention. " _Here."_ Carpenter signed. He gestured to the alleyway that they were about to pass. "We can take a shortcut." he said out loud. The two of them stopped walking. Trivia looked around like she was trying to see what was around them. Really, she was checking to see if they were being followed or if there were police around. Not seeing either, she shrugged and then nodded.

They walked into the alley, and as soon as they were out of sight of the street Trivia ducked behind a dumpster and extracted the bag that she'd hidden there that morning. As she pulled the black tracksuit that it contained on over her shorts and T-shirt, Carpenter unearthed his own bag and checked its contents. They replaced the bags, sacks really, with the large purse or backpack that they had been carrying. Once they had both gotten dressed and pulled ski masks over their faces, Carpenter led Trivia to a door that was poorly hidden behind a sheet of plywood.

 _"OK Trivia, do your magic."_ Trivia nodded and reached into her pocket to pull out a set of lock picking tools. She studied the lock, picked out a tool, and went to work. Carpenter kept a lookout and ten seconds later Trivia was opening the door. She put the tools away.

Carpenter entered first. He had his tablet out and was rapidly hacking the building's security system. Trivia pulled the sheet of plywood back over the door as she closed it behind her. They had studied for this; they knew that the door they had entered by was not connected to an electronic system of any kind and they knew that there wouldn't be any security cameras for the next few meters.

Mechanics Bank's building did not have the best security, which was why Trivia and Carpenter had chosen it for their third hit. It also helped that the building's blueprints were available online.

 _"We have 45 minutes."_ Carpenter signed after he tucked his tablet under his arm.

 _"Left, right, left?"_ Trivia wanted to make sure. She didn't have as good of a memory as her brother. Carpenter nodded and the two of them trotted carefully through the hallways until they reached the area behind the bank's front desks. Trivia immediately headed for the locked boxes in the cupboards under the desks, popping them open and clearing them of cash. Carpenter kept a lookout, occasionally updating her on the time remaining before what security system there was kicked back in.

Carpenter tapped Trivia's shoulder to get her attention. _"30 minutes."_ They'd agreed that they wanted to leave with time remaining to throw the police off their trail.

 _"Almost done."_ She dumped the contents of the last box into her bag and put it back in its cupboard. The two of them then hurried back through the back of the bank and out into the alley. Trivia put the sack of money into her purse and dumped her tracksuit on top. She carefully made sure that everything in the alley was placed the same as it had been when they arrive, and then looked at Carpenter, who was tapping away on his tablet. He was making select traffic cameras for miles around black out so that they would be able to leave the alley and get back to their 'hideout' without being spotted.

It might have been overkill since they didn't really have very far to go, but they had just robbed a bank. Personally, Trivia was fine with overkill and Carpenter didn't mind since it only took him about ten minutes. When he finished they looked at each other sadly and headed out into the night.

Blocks away several dozen screens in a windowless room went black. The man watching them, who had been in the process of nodding off, let out a shout and shot his hand forwards to grab the phone. Quickly, he dialed the number that he'd been calling a lot in the past month.

"Mr. Neway, it's happened again!" the man exclaimed when the phone on the other end was answered.

Mr. Neway sighed and rested his forehead in his free hand. "Call the police, Carl." he ordered. "Maybe this time they'll actually catch the thief."

* * *

David An looked over his shoulder at his little sister. "Everything is taken care of. You can stop shadowing me." He stopped at a computer station, poured a cup of coffee from the pot on his cart, added a splash of milk, and handed it to the man at the station.

"Thanks David."

"You're welcome." He went back to pushing the S.T.A.R. Labs drinks cart. As part of his job as a S.T.A.R. Labs intern he went around to all the food-allowed work stations on Level 4 three times a day and delivered drinks to the workers. After five weeks at S.T.A.R. Labs San Francisco he had learned everyone's drink preferences so it was easy for him to keep talking to his sister while he worked.

Note: That would actually be difficult for most people because it involved looking over his shoulder in short intervals to catch the hand signs that she was using.

 _"What?"_ Delilah asked. _"Are you embarrassed to have your mute sister coming with you to work now? With all the time we've spent planning you should be used to having me around."_ She kept her face impassive as her brother twitched and nearly poured coffee on his hand. Honestly, they'd been practicing their interrogation forms for weeks and that was the best he could do? At least he'd managed to stay expressionless.

"Delilah." he hissed after he placed the coffee on Walter Scott's desk. She looked at him innocently.

 _"Were you just indulging me all this time? Just letting me talk about wanting to get into med school after I finish at UTSC? Is it because we don't have enough money? You know the court stuff is still getting finished and I could get a job if you weren't so overprotective."_ She was only two years younger than him but her bother acted like such a dad sometimes. A real dad who cared about his kids and always wanted to keep them safe, not a father who left his family after his wife was disabled in a car crash and got a divorce after his daughter found out that he had a teenage daughter with another woman.

David sighed. He poured hot water over a chamomile teabag. "Delilah, mom and I are both glad that you're planning for your future, but we barely managed to pay for your first year and my third year. It's only going to get more expensive so…"

 _"Don't count chickens."_ Delilah finished with a frown. _"I know, it's just, with everything that's going on I…"_ She ducked her head and her hand signs flashed quickly as she finished her sentence. _"I wanted something to look forwards to."_

With that confession out David and Delilah finished the drinks run in silence. Delilah actually abandoned her bother halfway through to have a chat with Beth Wilder, a researcher who was currently packing up her station in preparation for her transfer to S.T.A.R. Labs Metropolis. David couldn't actually see what Delilah was saying, but judging from the noises of assentation from Mrs. Wilder they were talking about how annoying the men in their lives were.

It was an open secret that Beth Wilder and her husband hated each other as much as they loved each other, though it was sometimes difficult to tell which was what.

After he put the cart away, David found his sister and asked her if she would check on their mother. She rolled her eyes.

 _"You know she doesn't like us checking in on her every five minutes. She's just at the library, what's the worst that could happen?"_

"The Teen Titans are here for a reason." David reminded her. Delilah picked up her bag and shut down the computer that she had been using.

 _"I'll go."_ she told him. _"But don't think I don't know that you just want me gone so you can lurk around the project on Level 7."_ That was very true. Delilah wasn't allowed access to the upper levels of the building (anything higher than Level 6 was completely closed to anyone who didn't have an employee card), and the project that was happening on Level 7 absolutely fascinated David, though he refused to tell Delilah what it was.

Darn S.T.A.R. Labs policy.

A breeze blew her braid over her shoulder as Delilah left S.T.A.R. Labs. As she sifted it back into place a flash of light from her ring finger caught her eye. She looked with surprise at the sliver ring with a row of three light blue gemstones that was on her finger. She vaguely remembered finding it in her bag and, intending to turn it over to the police, putting it on so that she wouldn't lose it. Didn't she give it to the police? She was sure she had, but there it was, still on her finger. Was she really that scatterbrained? Not normally.

Delilah shook her head at herself and walked towards the bus stop. When the bus arrived she asked the driver where the nearest police station was and got off the bus at the stop closest to it. After taking a few steps in the direction of the station she looked down at her hand and blinked in surprise when she saw that the ring was gone. She had been holding a pole on the bus with that hand, and she realized that she hadn't seen the ring then either. It hadn't fallen off; it fit too well for that.

 _'I guess I did give to the police.'_ she thought, as she turned around to walk the half block to the public library. _'My eyes must be playing tricks on me.'_

But, as she walked, she couldn't help glancing down at her hand, sure that she would see silver and blue glinting at her. It still felt like that the ring was on her finger, even though it was totally invisible.

* * *

 _Money, Money, Money_ \- ABBA


	2. Power Play (After)

A/N: I know, I know, I'm breaking the rules I set for myself. I'm just posting this so that all of you reading can be assured that I am working on this story, and to tell you that I've only got six chapters left to write but they're starting to reach more than 3,000 words each so it might take me a while to get them done. I do know exactly what I have to write though, so maybe not. Anyway, here's the first "After" chapter.

-Cynder2013

* * *

Power Play

(After)

Anyone who knew anything about it would agree that Teucer, Ontario was not a nice town. Some people called it the 'Gotham of the North', which was only inaccurate because it didn't have a Batman to take care of its problems. Teucer was under the control of two rival gangs, the Kings and the Jokerz, who were constantly recruiting and fighting among themselves. Staying neutral was the best way to not get shot at or stabbed with a reciprocating saw on a daily basis, but it wasn't a total guarantee of safety. Seeing someone get shot down in the middle of the street for no apparent reason wasn't at all odd, though there was always _a_ reason. There were never any children killed, both gangs considered them future members and left the elementary school alone, but anyone over fourteen was fair game. The police were no help because half of them were in one of the gangs and the other half refused to risk their lives unless they knew for sure that they'd be catching someone red-handed.

Needless to say, the 'Gotham of the North' nickname was well earned, and not just because the Jokerz styled themselves after The Joker, Gotham's original crazy homicidal clown.

Teucer's 54,800 residents weathered the constant storm the only way they knew how to, by living. Sure, self defense classes were in high demand, they churned out record-breaking runners on a yearly basis, and anyone who went to college or university automatically lived on residence, but, really, it wasn't that bad.

Really. People could even go for walks during the day.

During the day, and even then it wasn't completely safe. But Teucer was home, and no-one moved because they were just too darn stubborn to do so.

Mr. Z was one person who'd lived in Teucer for as long as anyone could remember. As a retired stage magician he could often be found at the elementary school, putting on miniature magic shows for the kindergarten kids. Of course, Mr. Z wasn't his 'real' name (his mail came addressed to Giovanni Zatara), but everyone in town called him that. He was well-known and well-liked, and any gang member would get hell for killing him. Even Jokerz who would kill their own mothers wouldn't dare lay a finger on him.

It was difficult to get that sort of immunity, and, understandably, Mr. Z milked it for all it was worth, even though it scared his neighbours half to death when he did. One of these neighbours was Tinashe Krusen, who sometimes felt that she had three children that she was taking care of rather than just her son and daughter.

"You are _not_ going to go for a walk!" she exclaimed one day in July. Her daughter Delilah looked up from where she was tying her shoes in the mud room. Delilah An was seventeen, an age she hadn't been sure she would make it to, and looked a balanced mix between her African mother and Chinese father. One thing she did have that was all from her mother though was stubbornness.

"I'm going." she insisted. "I'll be with Z, perfectly safe."

"That's Mr. Z to you." her mother said sternly. "And he will be safe, not you." Delilah wanted to roll her eyes but she didn't because it was her mother. Delilah was a lot of things, but disrespectful wasn't one of them.

Except when it came to her father and his family, but in her mind they didn't count.

She tied her other shoe and stood up. "Please mum? We've been inside since we all got out of the hospital and I'm going crazy."

"We've been inside because we couldn't run five meters." her mother reminded her, rattling her leg braces slightly. "What if you had an episode?"

"Mo-om." Delilah complained. "I have migraines, not PTSD."

"Mom's right." her brother David called from the living room. "It's too dangerous."

This time Delilah did roll her eyes. "Thanks David. What happened to being on my side?"

"We're trying to stop you from getting killed." he shot back. That was a very good point, unfortunately. Delilah put her hands on her hips and pursed her lips.

" _Moving_ would be a better way to stop me from getting killed. I'm old enough to make my own life decisions." Before anyone could reply to that, the doorbell rang.

"I've got it." David said quickly. He put his book down and grabbed a knife from the block in the kitchen with his good hand before going to the front door. He looked through the peephole, blinked with surprise, and, after some deliberation, opened the door. Delilah, who was leaning out of the door of the mud room so that she could see the front entry, noticed her brother's hesitation and unintentionally gripped the knife-concealing cross hanging around her neck.

"Who's your friend?" David asked, concealing the knife in his hand behind the door. He looked the blond man standing behind his neighbor up and down. The blond's lips twitched and he pulled a packet of cigarettes out of the pocket of his trench coat. "Don't start smoking if you're planning on coming inside." David and the man looked at each other. Eventually the man sighed and put his cigarettes away.

"Whatever kid." he grumbled with an obvious British accent.

"He's my daughter's friend." Mr. Z said quickly. David grunted quietly and opened the door wide enough for them to enter.

"You'd better come in."

Mr. Z entered first, his ever-present black and gold walking stick tapping ahead of him on the tiles. His daughter's friend entered with a scowl on his face and the smell of cigarette smoke clinging to his clothes. "How are you David?" Mr. Z asked. David shrugged.

"OK, I guess. I'm on some great painkillers. You?"

"I am well, thank you." Tinashe left the mud room and began walking slowly towards the door. Deliah ignored the fact that she was wearing her shoes; she could always wash the floor later, and hurried to walk next to her mother, just in case she needed help. "Ah, hello,Tinashe."

"What is all this about going for a walk?" she demanded. Mr. Z had the decency to look embarrassed.

"Delilah had mentioned that you have been stuck inside and I thought that a quick turn around the block would do all of you some good."

"Let me make this clear Z, we did not survive a car crash just to get killed our first month back home."

"She's got going to get killed."

"Is it always like this around here?" the British man muttered.

"Pretty much." David replied. "Who are you, again?"

"Constantine. John Constantine."

"David An." Neither of them offered to shake hands.

"So, tell me David," Constantine said as they watched Tinashe and Z shoot points back and forth "do you always carry a chef's knife with you?"

"Not usually." David admitted. "I need to get a new switchblade." The volume of Tinashe's voice quickly began to rise. Mr. Z continued responding calmly, but through his shoe his toes could be seen tapping. Impatiently? Worriedly? None of the others knew.

Constantine put a hand to his forehead. "There is something wrong with this town." he muttered. David shrugged and Delilah shook her head unperceivably. There wasn't _something_ wrong with their town, there was a lot wrong.

"Fine!" Tinashe shouted. Constantine jumped what was probably a foot into the air. David and Delilah looked at their mother in anticipation of a verdict.

"Once around the block." she said. "Then straight back home. Clear?" Delilah smiled.

"Clear." She ran to the kitchen to grab her keys and cellphone, and then hurried back to the front door, where Mr. Z and Constantine were already waiting outside. "Bye mum, and thanks!" She rushed out, closed the door behind her, and then paused. She reopened the door and said, "And if I die you reserve the right to say 'I told you so'."

Tinashe sighed and shook her head as she heard the lock click. She turned to look at David, who had gone back to reading like nothing had happened.

"Oh my children," she murmured "what am I going to do with you?"

* * *

John Constantine did not seem to be as out of his element as he had appeared to be back at the house. He and Delilah were actually carrying on a conversation as they walked. Then again that could have been because he wasn't barred from smoking anymore.

"You said you travel, Mr. Constantine. Where have you been?" Ribbons of smoke drifted out of his mouth as he contemplated his answer. Mr. Z, who was whistling a tune as he walked, flicked his eyes sideways to look at his daughter's friend.

"Lots of places." Constantine said at last. "New York, Hong Kong, most of England… Anywhere my work takes me."

"Makes it sound like you're a superhero." Delilah joked. Constantine just stopped himself from flinching. He was _not_ a bloody Costume, and he resolved never to sound like he was ever again. Awkward silence threatened to reign.

Mr. Z cleared her throat. "Ah, Delilah, I believe your birthday was last week." Delilah nodded, though she didn't have to because Mr. Z seemed to know the birthday of every neutral.

"Third day in the hospital."

Constantine puffed on his cigarette and just avoided raising his eyebrow. He knew that the girl and her family had been in some sort of accident and he decided not to ask about it because it would probably be a waste of time.

"Well, as you were in the hospital I didn't get a chance to give you your present." Along with knowing birthdays, Mr. Z also made a point to seek out birthday boys and girls and give them little presents. Candies, toys, collectable coins, those sorts of things. He enjoyed making the kids in Teucer smile. Delilah though thought that she was too old to be receiving gifts from him and she said so.

"Nonsense." Mr. Z replied. He then proceeded to reach behind her ear and produce a silver ring embellished with a row of light blue jewels, which he handed to her with a flourish. She automatically accepted it, though her face was contorted with surprise.

"Mr. Z!" She examined the ring and quickly came to the conclusion that it was very real and very expensive. "I can't accept this! It's too expensive."

"Nonsense." Mr. Z said again. "It was in a box of my wife's things." Constantine did his best to not look like he was listening. Zatanna didn't talk much about her mother, a powerful mage who she said had died in childbirth, but what she did tell had made him extremely curious, especially about her supposed death.

After all, her father was supposed to be dead to.

"Ella." Delilah murmured, turning the ring over in her hand. "Would she mind that you gave it away?" Mr. Z shook his head.

"She never wore it."

Delilah made a noise of understanding. A shiver suddenly ran up her spine and she quickly put the ring on.

"We're being hunted." she whispered. "Keep walking like nothing's wrong, and don't look back."

"Hunted?" Constantine asked. "By what?" Delilah sniffed the air and covered her mouth to stop herself from coughing.

"By the smell, Jokerz wannabes. They hang out at the dump." Her eyes suddenly widened and she looked at Mr. Z with horror. "It's initiation time, isn't it?" Mr. Z frowned, and then nodded. Delilah hissed and mentally cursed the fact that she had completely lost track of the days. Constantine dropped the butt of his cigarette onto the sidewalk and stepped on it.

"Do we still just walk?" he asked the girl, who seemed to be becoming frantic.

"No." Mr. Z replied calmly. "Now you run."

* * *

Two boys and a girl dressed in modified clown costumes were sitting on the roof of a house. The girl was tossing a steak knife up in the air, watching as it cartwheeled and catching it by the handle before it could drop out of reach. "I'm bor-ored." she complained. "There's no one here-er."

"Patience." ordered one of the boys, who had an ax lying across his knees. "We'll find someone soon."

As if summoned by his words, a group of three people rounded the corner and began walking up the street towards them. The other boy stretched in a catlike manner. "Ah, excellent. There's one for each of us." He leaned forwards to get a better look. The girl reached out like she was going to push him off the roof, but changed her mind and went back to catching her knife.

"Oh dear." The boy with the ax looked at the other boy, who was rubbing the purple ruffle around his neck in disappointment.

"What?"

"One of them is Mr. Z." The two boys groaned. The girl immediately jumped up and scampered down the ladder leaning against the house with her knife in her teeth. Her mismatched Mary Janes tapped on the bricks.

"Hey!" the boy with the ax exclaimed. He hurried down the ladder and ran after the girl. The other boy sighed again and quickly followed.

They stalked the walkers for a few meters. Then the two who were not Mr. Z, a girl and a man in a trench coat, started running down the street. The boy with the ax grinned.

"Fun." he said.

" _Run run run as fast as you ca-an."_ the girl sang gleefully.

"First two to catch them get the kills." the ruffle-necked boy suggested. The other two nodded.

The three Jokerz initiates began chasing after their prey. As they passed Mr. Z where he had stopped on the sidewalk they didn't notice him sticking a pin into his hand and muttering under his breath nor did they see the two bolts of red light that shot out of his hand and rushed after Delilah and Constantine.

Constantine felt it when Zatara's spell reached them and the tingling in his legs told him exactly what it did. "You sly old dog." he muttered appreciatively as he and Delilah started running faster without any effort on their part. He was going to have to figure out how to do that spell.

Delilah looked over her shoulder. "Three of them." she muttered. "Everson, Strike, Church; Everson, Loss, Morgenstern, Strike. Go left at the next intersection. Then right, then left again. Don't stop till you get to the school."

"What?"

"Neutral territory. Go!" Luckily Constantine didn't bother to argue. He turned left into Strike Street while Delilah turned right. Just as she had hoped, the three initiates split up to continue chasing both of them. The two boys ran after Constantine, while the girl put on a burst to speed to try to catch up with Delilah.

The elementary school was closer, so Delilah was sure that Constantine would be fine. She on the other hand had a lot further to run, but once she reached Church Street there would be a lot more neutral territory for her to hide in. The church, the mosque, the synagogue, the high school.

Unfortunately, she didn't make it.

She was running as fast as she could, but speed couldn't help her when the pulsing pain ignited in her skull. She fell to the ground as the pain burrowed behind her eyes and made her head feel like it was going to explode. Her legs couldn't hold her. The thumping of the clown girl's shoes around the coroner sounded like cannon shots.

Delilah made a decision, as much as she was able to when she couldn't think straight. She crawled into the nearby bus shelter and started preying that she wouldn't be seen. The air around her seemed to shimmer, but she blamed it on her migraine.

The girl chasing her turned the corner and stopped when she saw that the street was empty.

"Odd." she said to herself. " _Come out wherever you are-er!_ I won't hurt you, much!" She looked around. The girl couldn't have gotten far. She hadn't been running nearly fast enough to reach somewhere 'safe'. " _Where are you hide-ing?"_ The bus shelter caught her eye. The advertisements plastered on it made it impossible for her to see inside. With exaggerated care she crept around to the street-facing side of the shelter and stuck her head through the door.

"BOO!" she shouted. Nothing happened. The bus shelter was empty. The girl frowned. "Where did she go?" She walked away from the shelter and kept looking for her prey.

If the clown girl had looked back she might have seen the air shimmer slightly as Delilah became visible. She stayed at the shelter until the clown girl was out of sight, then she rushed to the church, called home, and then sat in a pew curled up into a ball with her face in her hands.

She didn't move for a long time.

* * *

 _Pumped Up Kicks_ -Foster the People


	3. Joining Up (Before)

Joining Up

(Before)

Trivia crept through the dark. She didn't know how Carpenter had managed to plunge the entire city into a power outage but it was working well for her. All she had to do was avoid the hospitals, where the power was still on courtesy of Carpenter not turning it out in the first place, and she could move around without anyone seeing her.

Hey, it was their last robbery. Go big or go home.

' _Of course, this wouldn't be happening if Carpenter hadn't taken stacks of_ yen _instead of American dollars.'_ she thought grumpily. That had made the first robbery a complete waste of time because they couldn't deposit the money anywhere. They had eventually just ended up dumping it in an alleyway not far from the bank they had stolen it from. Needless to say Trivia hadn't allowed Carpenter to do any of the actual stealing after that.

She reached the door of the bank and looked carefully over each shoulder and into the sky before she opened it. No alarm went off and she almost sighed with relief. The lock was electronic and they had been pretty sure that the bank didn't have any backup generators, but it was still good to know that this could be a quick in-and-out job.

She should have known not to be so optimistic.

Just as she was about to go inside air rushed past her and she found herself on the roof of the bank face to face with a hovering boy.

' _Superboy_.' she amended when she caught sight of the red S-shield on his black shirt. She did her best not to sigh. _'Wonderful.'_

"So, you're our thief." Superboy said eventually. Trivia pursed her lips behind her ski mask.

' _Gee, what was your first clue?'_ She looked carefully over the edge of the roof, trying to judge how far it was to the ground. She knew that she wouldn't be able to outrun Superboy, but she wasn't going to let herself get caught without at least trying to get away. Of course, Superboy saw where she was looking and immediately scooped her up, flying up high into the sky while she kicked her legs uselessly.

While Trivia struggled to breath in the thin air, Superboy began flying towards the police station. When she realized this Trivia once again began struggling to free herself while simultaneously thanking every god in existence that she hadn't allowed Carpenter to come with her. One of them getting arrested and charged would be bad, but both of them would break their mother's heart. She didn't even notice that it was getting easier to breath; she was just concentrating on figuring out how not to die once she did get Superboy to drop her.

"Do you want me to drop you?" Superboy exclaimed as Trivia wriggled like a worm in his grasp.

' _Yes, actually.'_ Trivia thought as she braced her arms and swung her body upwards, kicking Superboy in the face. Superboy reflexively stood up and his hands shot in front of his face to block any more blows. In the process he sort of dropped the thief.

She fell.

If Trivia could have screamed, she would have.

* * *

Superboy didn't hesitate for a second before diving after the falling thief. Sure they had stolen millions of dollars, but he didn't want them dead.

His com unit chose that moment to chime. He answered grudgingly.

"Kind of busy!" he shouted to whoever was calling.

"Are you chasing the thief?" Robin asked. Superboy looked at the thief, who was falling spread-eagle like a skydiver.

"Sort of. Call back la—" Superboy stopped talking with his mouth wide open. He was now below the thief because the thief had stopped falling and was hovering in the sky like a kite. They blinked like they just realized that they were no longer reaching terminal velocity and then they wobbly began to fly back in the direction they'd come.

"Superboy? Superboy? Conner, are you there?!" Superboy groaned.

"Of course they fly." he muttered.

"Conner? Who flies? Conner!" Superboy began to fly towards the thief, who sped up as soon as they noticed him following. He cursed and flew faster.

"Busy!"

"I'm going to ask Wonder Girl to give you a hand." Robin said carefully after a pause. "I'll call you back." He ended the call.

Superboy chased after the thief and quickly became frustrated. He managed to close the distance between them slightly but even at his fastest he wasn't able to catch up with them. Seriously, he flies as fast as the Flash can run and he can't catch a person who's probably just started flying. It made no sense.

About as much sense as the thief stopping when they were extremely far ahead and waiting for him to catch up.

He wondered if she, and he could tell now that they were a 'she', was from Gotham, because she really just seemed to be showing off her new outfit. It was still black and her face was still completely covered, but she was now wearing a skin-tight bodysuit that covered every inch of her skin, tall boots, and long gloves. An image of a purple, vaguely star-shaped flower was on the bodysuit in the center of her chest.

Poison Ivy's 'daughter' maybe? Superboy was tempted to call Robin to see if he could ID her. She continued waiting and he screeched to a stop three feet in front of her.

"Are you giving up?" he asked. She shook her head and threw a punch at his face which he quickly blocked. He didn't manage to dodge the kick to the gut that she sent at the same time but that just felt like getting hit with a slow-moving soccer ball would to regular people. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes. This wouldn't take very long, he thought.

He was wrong.

When he grabbed the thief's wrists and held them together she, in a move worthy of Black Canary, flipped him over her shoulder and sent him flying five feet towards the ground. When he caught himself she flew towards him and kicked him in the chest. The force sent him spiraling down again, and this time he wasn't able to fight his momentum and crash-landed in the roof of an apartment building. "Oof!"

He really hated obeying the laws of physics.

He pushed himself up and saw the thief land on the roof in front of him. Why hadn't she just flown away? It would have been the sensible thing to do.

It was looking more and more likely that she was from Gotham. Robin was hardly sensible half the time and he was one of the good guys. Smart, yes, a brilliant strategist, but not sensible.

Though by that logic all of the Titans were from Gotham.

Superboy stood and the thief held her hands up in fists in front of her. "Do you really want to do this?" Superboy sighed. The thief cocked her head and vanished.

 _Vanished,_ like turned completely invisible. None of Superboy's senses could tell where she was. Seriously, how many more tricks did this girl have?

A gale force blast of wind hit him from behind and he stumbled forwards. Then a funnel cloud picked him up and began tossing him around uncontrollably.

At least one more trick then.

Just as he was about to escape from the miniature tornado, the wind stopped. He fell towards the roof, _again,_ but this time he managed to fly up and land in a way that didn't cause cracks in the concrete.

"Hi Superboy." Wonder Girl said. The thief was tied up with Wonder Girl's lasso and she seemed to have stopped flying when she was caught, probably from both literal and emotional shock. Wonder Girl pulled up on her lasso but she wasn't fast enough to stop the thief from striking her head hard on the roof. Superboy went over to her and saw that the blow had knocked her out.

"Great." He looked up at Wonder Girl. "So, what do we do now? We can't just dump her at the police station; she's a metahuman." Wonder Girl flew down and landed on the roof beside him.

"We'll take her back to the tower. I have a feeling Robin's going to want to interrogate her." Superboy grinned.

"You mean _you_ want to interrogate her. Why?" Wonder Girl shook her head.

"I'll tell you later. Let's go." Superboy picked up the unconscious girl. Wonder Girl left her wrapped in the lasso just in case she woke up before they got to Titan's Tower.

Together they flew towards the bay.

* * *

Trivia let out a mental groan when she woke up. It had been her first time flying so she supposed she could be forgiven for loosing levitation when given a paralyzing electric shock but she could have done without knocking herself out.

Light shone through her eyelids making her headache even worse. She tried to lift her hand up to rub her eyes but found that, judging from the metallic clinking, she was handcuffed to the chair she was seated in.

"Guys, she's awake." a female voice said. Trivia forced her eyes open and managed to make out the forms of three people past the spots that clouded her vision. There was one girl and two boys, all of whom were probably around her age. One of the boys came towards her and held up three fingers.

"How many fingers am I holding up?" he asked. Trivia flexed her fingers and then made the sign for the number three with her right hand. The boy nodded. "Can you actually see my face?"

"She didn't even say anything, Robin!" the other boy interrupted. Trivia recognized his voice as Superboy's and guessed that the girl, whose blond hair was one thing that she could actually see, was Wonder Girl.

"Sign language, Superboy." Robin responded. "Can you see me?"

 _"No."_ Trivia signed, raising her hand as far as she could so that the motion was visible. The spots dancing across her vision had started to fade but they had been replaced with fuzzy smears of colour. _'I'm going to take a wide guess and say I have a concussion.'_ she thought sarcastically.

"I think you have a concussion." Robin said.

' _Thank you Captain Obvious.'_ Her vision was actually starting to clear up, which made her wonder just how long she had been unconscious. Her head was still pounding though.

"Can she still answer questions?" Superboy asked.

"You do know what a concussion is Superboy." Wonder Girl said. "She needs to rest before we ask her anything."

"We haven't even seen her face! How do we know that she's not a serial killer?"

"She's been robbing banks, not killing people."

A spark nudged at the back of Trivia's mind. Her face was still covered by the costume that had appeared when she'd started flying but as she was caught anyway… She steeled herself and concentrated. ' _The hell with it. I just have to figure out how to—'_ Her skin prickled and she felt the stifling woolen ski mask replace the spandex covering her face. _'Oh, that's how.'_

Robin took the semi-obvious invitation and pulled the ski mask off her head. "Not a serial killer." he announced. "Dalilah An, her brother works for S.T.A.R Labs. She has Level 5 security clearance."

 _'That was, what, two seconds? I guess I shouldn't be surprised, he is the bloody Boy Wonder.'_ Dalilah thought. Then ' _When the hell did I become British?'_

Superboy groaned. "I almost got beaten by a science geek." Wonder Girl coughed. "A science geek who isn't Robin." he amended. Robin smirked, and then walked over to a cupboard and began rifling through it. Judging by the row of beds and the abundance of the colour white Delilah figured that they were in some sort of clinic, or maybe an infirmary. Infirmary seemed more likely. Somewhere in Titan's Tower perhaps? She couldn't think of anywhere else the three teen heroes would have access to without question.

"What makes you think she's a 'science geek'?" Wonder Girl asked.

"She has security clearance at S.T.A.R Labs, enough said."

"You have security clearance at S.T.A.R Labs."

"That's different."

Wonder Girl raised an eyebrow. At least Delilah thought that she did. "Is it?"

Robin came back with an unopened bottle of water and a bottle of Tylenol. He motioned to Delilah, who held out her hand. She swallowed the offered pills and about half the water.

"It is, because I never go there." He looked at Robin and jerked his thumb towards Delilah. "What are we going to do with her?" he asked, the tone of his voice clearly stating that he was annoyed. Hey, being locked up in Titan's Tower wasn't exactly how Delilah wanted to spend her Saturday night either.

- _'Her' is right here.-_ she thought acidly in his direction. She successfully hid her surprise when Superboy shouted and held his head.

"What's wrong?" Wonder Girl asked quickly. Superboy grimaced and looked at Delilah.

"She's a psychic." he spat. "That's it, I'm out of here." He walked past Delilah and she heard the whooshing of doors swinging as he left. Delilah blinked and looked back and forth between Wonder Girl and Robin questioningly.

- _Was it something I said?-_

Wonder Girl yelped in surprise. "Did you hear that?" she asked Robin. Robin nodded and studied Delilah from behind his blank white lenses. Delilah unsuccessfully resisted her instinct to writhe in discomfort. Those eyes that his mask gave him were freaky.

"Try that again." he told her. She blinked at him.

 _"Try what again?"_ she signed, or attempted to sign as the handcuffs limited how much she could sign completely. Robin seemed to understand though.

"Telepathy." he said shortly.

"You were speaking in our heads." Wonder Girl translated. "Can you do it again?" Delilah shrugged. She concentrated on her task, just like when she had been trying to get rid of her costume, and then _pushed_ her thoughts towards Wonder Girl.

- _Can you hear me?-_ she tried.

"Yes." Wonder Girl answered. "That's so weird. Don't mind Superboy, he has this weird problem with telepaths. "

- _Aren't Martians telepathic?-_ Delilah asked, remembering the fact that Martian Manhunter was part of the Justice League, which occasionally worked with the Teen Titans.

"Well, yes but…" Wonder Girl put a hand to her forehead. "This is…a lot."

Robin produced a key and unlocked Delilah's handcuffs. She reflexively rubbed her wrists. ' _Am I free to go?'_ she tried to ask. However, she could tell that neither of them had received the message. She signed the same question with a quirky smile to show that she was joking.

"Wonder Girl, could she stay in your room for the night?" Wonder Girl nodded. "Make sure to wake her up every hour." Robin looked at Delilah. "And you are not going to run away."

"- _We both know that I could have tried to escape five times before now.-"_ Delilah said and signed at the same time.

Wonder Girl rolled her eyes towards the ceiling. "Mother of Zeus…" she muttered. Then she pulled Delilah out of the chair and pushed her towards the door. "Good night!" she exclaimed over her shoulder to Robin. "Good night!"

* * *

Cassie and Conner were trying to eavesdrop on Robin's interrogation of Delilah. Trying and failing, because Conner was the only one of them with super hearing and the conversation going on inside the interrogation room (aka Robin's lab) was one-sided.

"I don't like this." Cassie whispered from where she was crouching near a crack between the door and the door frame. "They've been in there for too long."

"Shh." Conner replied, his ear pressed to the door. He listened carefully and Cassie held her breath. Suddenly his eyes widened. "He can't do that!" he whispered forcefully. Then he blinked. "Get back!"

The two of them rushed away from the door until they were on the other side of the hallway, leaning against the wall and pretending that they had just been staring at the door to Robin's lab the entire time. Robin looked at them as soon as he and Delilah exited the lab. Robin, unlike the rest of the Titans currently in the tower, was dressed in his costume rather than civvies and his friends managed not to flinch as he stared them down with blank eyes.

"Nice try guys." he said. Conner stopped pretending to be innocent. He advanced on Robin.

"You can't do this." he insisted. "You can't."

"I already have, Conner. It's the best thing for everyone."

"Why, why is it the best thing? And why didn't you ask us first?"

Cassie looked at Delilah, who was nervously watching the exchange between the two boys. The ring on her right hand flashed as she wrapped her arms around her rib cage.

"Can you tell me what they're talking about?" Cassie asked as the argument became louder.

- _Robin asked me to join the team.-_ Delilah replied. - _And I said yes.-_ Cassie blinked. Robin started darting down the hallway with Conner attempting to catch him.

"Well," Cassie said. "welcome to the team." There was a shout as Raven and Gar entered the hallway and attempted to break the two boys apart. Cassie and Delilah both looked at the rapidly accelerating argument. Delilah uncrossed her arms and raised her hands in front of her with a look of immense concentration on her face. One flick of her fingers later and Conner and Robin were flying backwards away from each other. Cassie pressed herself against the wall as wind rushed past and Conner came tumbling through the air down to the end of the hallway, which was a pretty long way.

Raven looked towards them and Cassie had the feeling that she had sensed the magic that Delilah had just used, Cassie certainly had. "Thank you for your help." Raven said to Delilah.

- _I guess I'm one of you now.-_ Delilah said lightly. Gar jumped in surprise and Cassie knew that Delilah had projected her thought to everyone she could see. She looked back and forth between the two ends of the hallway and saw that both Conner and Robin were sitting up and rubbing their heads. The two of them were looking at each other sheepishly. They hadn't gotten into an actual fight in a long time.

"Yeah." Cassie said. "You're definitely one of us."

* * *

 _People Like Us_ \- Kelly Clarkson

* * *

A/N: Just one more chapter before November. Well, rules were made to be broken.

Happy Halloween!

-Cynder2013


	4. Joining Up (After)

A/N: Reason for rule-breaking: Because I'm updating everything else. Suggested sentence: Finishing more chapters to make up for it.

-Cynder2013

* * *

Joining Up

(After)

Superboy didn't know why Superman was bringing him with him while he was investigating "something bad". To him it seemed like the worst idea the Man of Steel had ever had. Didn't Superman know that having him around would just make things worse? He'd probably end up killing someone, again.

"Superboy," Superman said from where he was flying ahead of him "I can feel your self-loathing from here. You promised you'd work on that." Superboy just grunted in response. Superman sighed. "Kon-El, you have got to stop beating yourself up." Superboy suddenly stopped...well, not dead, that would be in poor taste, but he stopped mid-flight.

"How can I?!" he shouted. "I killed those people! They're dead and they're _not_ going to come back!" Superboy had technically come back from the dead three months ago. He had spent the time between then and now in the Shaolin Monastery on Mount Song (which was where he had crash-landed, long story) learning meditation and martial arts to try to prepare himself for rejoining the general public (something the monks had been very insistent on). When he had left the monastery he immediately got kidnapped, had some crazy alien try to clone him, and survived the destruction of the cloning lab, which was in outer space. The only thing that happened that was actually his fault was blowing up the lab, and Supergirl had helped with that.

Then he decided to go back to Earth. That had been the worst idea he could ever have thought of. As soon as he entered Earth's atmosphere _something_ in his mind had snapped and he went on what could have amounted to a Joker-level killing rampage if Superman hadn't managed to stop and contain him. He still wasn't sure what had happened and neither was Superman, but he did know that once he had snapped out of it he could remember the face of every single person he had killed.

Far too many people.

He had basically locked himself up in the Fortress of Solitude so that nothing like that would happen again, and so that he wouldn't have to see Wonder Girl, who pretty much hated him at that point. Superman disagreed with his methods and thus they were flying towards disaster in the making.

Superman flew back towards Superboy and put a hand on his shoulder. He spoke softly in contrast to Superboy's incensed yelling and somehow, even though he didn't really want to, Superboy began to calm down.

"What happened was not your fault. Someone or something was controlling you. I know you, Kon-El , the Justice League knows you, and we all agree that you could never have done that on purpose. Even Batman agrees."

"Batman hates me." Superboy muttered with a small smirk. Superman smiled.

"Only a little. Come on, let's finish up here and then you can get back to moping if you still want to."

Superboy obligingly followed Superman. "There's your something bad." he guessed when they descended out of the clouds and saw a line of police cars by a small truck loading bay. "And there it goes." he said as the cars pulled away, leaving the area completely empty. "Can we go home now?" Superman shook his head.

"There's still someone here, I can hear their heartbeat. Come on." He flew to the ground and Superboy had no choice but to follow. They walked towards one of the ramps at the side of the building. Superboy listened carefully and was able to hear the _'lub dub'_ sound of a human heartbeat become louder as they got closer to the ramp. He could also smell the iron scent of spilled blood and that made him pause for a moment as he unwillingly recalled the face of a man he had basically ripped in half. He shook his head harshly and kept going.

He was now certain that there was someone there but his eyes were telling him that all his other senses were wrong. Visually there wasn't a hint of any person being in the area except for him and Superman. He looked around again, and blinked when he saw a girl flicker into existence in the corner made by the ramp and the building. He blinked again. Her form flickered and vanished.

Superman was somewhere on the other side of the building, so Superboy carefully walked towards the place where he had seen the girl appear. His foot hit something on the ground and he stopped. The wind buffeted him unhelpfully.

"Hello?" he said. The wind blew again. Then he heard someone, most likely the girl he had seen, speak quietly from in front of him.

"You're…Superboy, right?"

He knelt down so that he was at the level of the speaker. "I am. Who are you? Are you alright?" There was a tired laugh.

"No, I'm…not…alright. Do you…know … where you… are?" Superboy did the sensible thing and ignored the question because he was sure that it was being asked sarcastically.

"Are you hurt?" he asked instead.

"I…" the voice trailed off. The air in front of Superboy wobbled and the girl appeared again. This time he was able to see the blood from a bullet wound below her collarbone that had soaked through her black shirt and stained her white gloves. Her red fingers were now pressed against her temples like she was trying to ward off a headache. She looked like she was actively struggling not to pass out.

"Oh man." he muttered. The wound looked bad, there was a lot of blood and Superboy was pretty sure that the bullet had hit a large, important vein. "Superman!"

"No…" the girl groaned. "Just…leave." She doubled over in pain and Superboy decided that ignoring her protests was probably a good idea.

Superman arrived in a barely perceivable flash of blue and red. He quickly surveyed the scene, including the girl's flickering in and out of existence, and made a carefully thought out yet spilt second decision.

"We're going back to the Fortress." he told Superboy.

"With—?" Superboy didn't bother to finish his question and just nodded towards the girl.

"Yes."

* * *

The girl passed out while they were flying past Alaska. Personally Superboy was impressed that she had managed to last that long. Even without all the refusing help and futile punches she looked so weak that a strong gust of wind could blow her away. He could swear that she was half the weight she would have been if she had all her blood inside her.

Superman had handed the girl to him just before they passed over an island that was huddled in a bay near the top of the North American land mass. He wanted to get someone from the Justice League that was stationed there and told Superboy to go ahead to the Fortress. Superboy wanted to refuse but if it was between him possibly killing an innocent person or letting them die, he'd take the risk of killing them.

"Kelex!" Superboy called when he entered the Fortress.

" **How may I help you, Superboy?** " the AI asked.

"Where's the infirmary? Do we even have an infirmary?"

" **Go down the hallway to your left then turn right.** " Kelex told him. " **We do have an infirmary.** "

"Thanks." Superboy muttered. He followed Kelex's directions and entered a surprisingly well-stocked infirmary considering that everyone who lived at the Fortress was some level of invulnerable. He put the girl down on the nearest bed and asked Kelex to preform "some med-scan thing" which the AI did, musing about Superboy's use of words the entire time.

"Well?" Superboy asked when the scan was finished.

" **She's unconscious.** " Kelex said shortly.

"Kelex!" Superboy growled. The AI made a sound that amounted to him rolling his eyes. Several tubes and wires and things came out of the wall by the bed that the girl's still form was resting on.

" **She has a bullet in her left subclavian artery and a piece of glass in her head!** " Kelex snapped, using robotic claws to set up a heart monitor. " **As I assume Kal-El is coming with more dexterous help I'm going to get to work on stabilizing her. Why don't you—** "

"Thank you Kelex." Superman interrupted smoothly. "Please continue with your work. You're doing a very good job."

" **At least someone appreciates me**." the AI muttered.

Superboy turned around and saw that Superman had brought another man with him. It was kind of obvious who the other man was, green skin wasn't that common on Earth. "Martian Manhunter?"

"Superboy." the Martian acknowledged. He looked at the girl, who Kelex was currently preparing a blood transfusion for. Superboy had no idea where he had gotten the bag of blood from, though he did know that Kelex would have matched blood type and Rh factor perfectly. The AI was a perfectionist, which was why he and Superboy didn't get along.

Martian Manhunter went over to the girl and reached into her head to pull out the aforementioned piece of glass. It was really strange to watch and Superboy had to remind himself that he did not need an eye exam; density shifting was just something that Martian Manhunter did. The girl's eyelids fluttered. Martian Manhunter reached into her head again and did something that caused her to sink back into unconsciousness.

"This will take longer to fix." he said, pointing at the bullet wound. "I will require your help, your x-ray vision."

"Can't you use your Martian Vision, J'onn?" Superman asked.

"It will be helpful to have more than one point of view." Martian Manhunter explained. Superman nodded.

"Okay, Superboy and I-"

 **"Superman, Parasite is robbing the First Metropolitan Bank."** Kelex interrupted. **"With armed gunmen."** Superman looked from Martian Manhunter to Superboy.

"I'd better…"

"Go." Superboy finished. "We'll be fine." Superman nodded and disappeared in a blur. Superboy looked at Martian Manhunter. "Tell me what to do."

Over the next hour Superboy and Martian Manhunter worked together to heal the girl. Superboy used his x-ray vision to see inside the girl's wound and let Martian Manhunter know what is going on from a different angle. Martian Manhunter removed the bullet and mended the girl's veins, arteries, muscle and skin. Whoever shot her had used a really crappy gun because the bullet was stuck in her wound even though it could have gone through bone and out the back of her shoulder.

"We are done." Martian Manhunter said at last. Superboy thought that he sounded a little tired and his suspicions were confirmed when the Martian went over to the second bed in the room and fell asleep. Superboy didn't know what to do. He didn't think it would be a good idea to leave the infirmary just in case the girl woke up but there wasn't anything for him to do there unless he got desperate enough to hold a conversation with Kelex.

Just as he was beginning to slip into a stupor the girl gasped and sat bold upright. He started in surprise. The girl's eyes darted back and forth until her gaze landed on Superboy.

"Where am I?" she asked flatly.

"Superman's Fortress of Solitude." Superboy told her. "Martian Manhunter and I fixed your shoulder." The girl rolled the shoulder that had been shot and frowned at him.

"You have a hard time listening, don't you? I said I would be fine." Superboy couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You were bleeding to death, forgive me if I didn't believe you." he snapped. The girl made a growling sound in the back of her throat. "Who are you anyway? What did you do to get yourself shot?"

"Wallflower." the girl told him. "And I was stopping a drug deal. Didn't you _kill_ a bunch of people a few weeks ago?" Superboy unintentionally copied Wallflower's growl.

"Don't you _dare_ talk about that you-"

"Be careful what you say next or I'll put you through a wall."

"That's a _great_ way to say 'thank you'."

"Thank you for what, kidnapping me?"

"I told you where you are!"

"Not really because I have no clue where 'Superman's Fortress of Solitude' is." Wallflower snapped. Martian Manhunter turned his head.

"Would you please stop arguing?" he asked tiredly. "If she's awake then you can take her home." He closed his eyes and fell back asleep. Wallflower rolled her eyes towards Superboy.

"You heard him."

Wallflower seemed to lose some of her bravado when they stepped outside the Fortress and were blasted by the arctic air. She hesitated for a moment before taking an acrid-smelling safety pin out of her pocket and stabbing her palm with it. She let out a pained yell.

"What are you doing?!" Superboy shouted. She shook her head and gritted her teeth to stop them from chattering.

"Peek em mraw." she said. The air around her became coloured orange for a brief moment before going back to normal. Superboy realized that she had done magic and forced himself not to jerk away when she stumbled and grabbed his arm to stop herself from falling.

Magic freaked him out just a little. Just a little.

"I don't want to freeze to death." she explained. She removed her hand from his arm like it was on fire. "Are we north or south?"

"North." he replied as he took off. He turned back and landed beside her when he realized that she wasn't following him. "Are you coming or not?"

"I can't fly." Superboy blinked.

"What?"

"I. Can't. Fly." Wallflower said slowly. Superboy blinked again. She could do magic but she couldn't fly? That didn't make sense and he said so.

"I've just started learning." she snapped. "I'd rather not try to do something too big and end up destroying my entire town. That tends to happen with magic." He could see why she wouldn't want to do that. A little too clearly. He shook his head to rid himself of the images of piles of dead bodies that he had created and held her hand out to him.

"I'll fly for both of us." She the look on her face was clearly asking him if he was serious. "Trust me."

"If I die I swear I will haunt you for the rest of your life." she warned as she took his hand. "I can do that."

"I believe you."

Superboy used his tactile telekinesis and he and Wallflower rose slowly into the air. After giving her a minute to get used to the sensation of hovering he began to retrace his path from the loading bay where he and Superman had found her. "Where to from here?" he asked once they arrived.

"Just go left." she replied. Then, "Hang on a second." She removed one of her ruined gloves with her teeth, swapped that hand for the one that she was using to hold his hand, and then repeated the process. She closed her eyes for a second. "Okay, we can go."

Superboy looked at her with confusion. "We're invisible now." she explained.

"But I can see you." he pointed out.

"Because you're invisible." That totally made sense.

"Isn't invisibility a big spell?" he asked as he continued to fly. Wallflower shrugged.

"Probably. It isn't a spell for me, it's natural. Sort of. Could you land in that backyard there?"

Superboy descended carefully and touched down on the neatly trimmed lawn. "Do you need help getting inside?"

"Nope." She pulled him towards the basement door in the foundation of the house. "Come on, you have a lot of explaining to do."

"Wait, what?"

Wallflower didn't give him any sort of answer, though to be fair he hadn't really asked any sort of question. She placed her hand on the door and spoke in a whisper that he would not have heard if his hearing was normal. He looked through the door before it opened and saw that the basement was occupied by one person and a ton of _stuff_.

Superboy followed Wallflower into the basement with some caution. Sure he was practically invulnerable but he could still die and magic could do a lot of damage even without killing him. It would probably be better for him to just leave but he was curious.

The person in the basement was a man sitting by a cluttered table reading a blue book with a pentagram on the front cover. A globe near his elbow was speckled with dots of coloured light. Sticks of chalk floated in the air above an empty area in the middle of the concrete floor. A jar on a bookshelf held a handful of pins soaking in a green liquid. Chains were wrapped around two narrow metal pillars that were helping to hold up the floor above them. Symbols and backwards words were written on the drywall.

Surprisingly those were the weirdest things about the room. Superboy had expected to see cauldrons and jars of eyeballs. The stuff that he'd seen through the door was mostly shelves and stacks of books.

"What spell did you use?" the man asked Wallflower without looking up from his book.

"Warming spell." Wallflower replied as she walked over to the table opposite his. That table, her table, Superboy decided, only held a lamp, a small stack of books, and a folded up map. "I have an excuse: We were in the Arctic." The man nodded and then looked straight at Superboy. His green eyes gleamed and Superboy had to resist the urge to step away from him. The man's eyes focused on the S-shield on his suit.

"Superboy." the man said. "Can I assume that you were the cause of my student ending up in the Arctic after she was shot only thirty minutes from here?" How did he know that? "Seeing magic is quite simple, Superboy. Particularly when one wishes to view current events."

"Wa…" Superboy sputtered. "Did you just read my mind?"

"I did not, I read your face."

"Oh."

Wallflower had dumped her bloodstained gloves on her table and gone to stand behind the man. "Superboy found me after the police left and decided that I needed medical attention."

"In the Arctic?" the man asked dryly.

"Yup."

"Who are you?" Superboy asked forcefully. The man closed his book.

"You may call me Zatara." he said calmly. "Wallflower, you have school tomorrow. You should get home. Leave the gloves." Wallflower sighed and shimmered out of existence. The door creaked as she left.

"I guess I should get going to." Superboy offered, inching towards the door. "Nice to meet you Mr. Zatara."

"Have a seat, Superboy." Zatara said sternly. "You and I need to have a little talk."

* * *

 _One week later…_

There was a tentative knock on the classroom door. Delilah paused in arguing under her breath with her won't-accept-he's-her-ex-boyfriend and turned to look at the door with her fingers gripping her necklace. Around the room her classmates were doing the same thing, looking at the door and reaching for hidden weapons. Their teacher pursed her lips and marched smartly to the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked once she had opened it. The boy standing in the hallway adjusted his glasses.

"Uh, I'm Conner Kent. I'm new here and I'm supposed to be in your class." Murmurs broke out around the room. They had never had a new student before. Ever.

Their teacher nodded in understanding. "Yes, the principle warned me that you'd be coming. Take any seat that's free. We're writing personal essays right now, I'll get the sheets for you."

The boy, Conner, entered the classroom. Delilah mentally cursed when she saw his face. Maybe the glasses would have worked if she hadn't spent ages arguing with him but for her there was no mistaking. Conner Kent was Superboy.

As Conner sat down Delilah realized that she was being spoken to. She turned away and waited.

"James," she said when he'd finished. "I'm only going to say this one more time; we are not together anymore. You joined the Kings."

"The Jokerz are the ones who blew up that store." James argued. "The car crash was their fault."

"And if I wanted to get back at them, which I don't, I'd find some way to do it myself without joining the Kings. I'm sorry, James, but you've made your choice and I just can't support it." She went back to her essay. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Conner looking at her. She would talk to him after school, she decided, and figure out why he was there.

Thank goodness English was last period.

"Hey, you're Delilah, right?" Conner asked when _he_ caught up with _her_ after class. It was nice of him to save her the trouble of drawing attention to herself by approaching him.

"Yes." she replied shortly. "Do you need something?" The hallway was way too crowded to drop even a molecule of information about her extracurricular activity. She didn't want to end up hanging from a flagpole or dead in a ditch, depending on if the person who overheard was a Jokerz or a Kings.

"Well, uh, the teacher said that, uh, I should get notes from you." His glasses slid down his nose and he pushed them back into place with obvious frustration.

"You should try contacts." she said lightly as she stopped at her locker. Conner stopped sharply and almost got run over by a group of basketball players.

"I…what?"

"Contact lenses." She spun her combination and put the binder she was carrying into her locker. "It's a lot harder for them to fall off." _When you're running for your life_ she added mentally. She closed her locker and began walking down the hall again. "You're new here aren't you? To town, I mean." Conner rubbed the back of his neck.

"Uh, yeah. I'm staying with a family friend. You've probably heard of him. Mr. Z?" Delilah blinked. Zatara was letting Superboy stay with him? Why hadn't she heard about this before?

"Everyone has heard of him. I'm his neighbor."

"Oh! Uh, cool." That was the fourth time he'd said 'uh'. It was becoming annoying.

"I'll walk you home then," she said as she ducked though the door and outside. "Since you're new."

"Thanks?"

"No problem."

It didn't take them long to reach Mr. Z's house, ten minutes in fact. They stopped talking about a minute in because they were both on high alert for any threats.

"Do you have any plans for right now?" Delilah asked. "I can bring over the English notes." Conner shook his head. "Go inside, I'll be back in a bit."

After she told her mum where she was going Delilah grabbed her English notes and hurried next door. She didn't have to bother with knocking; she just unlocked the door with the key Mr. Z had given her the month before and went right in. She startled Conner, who was sitting at the kitchen table.

"Hi." she said.

"Hi." They waited to see who would break their cover first. Then Conner said, "Superman and Zatara know each other. They thought that it wouldn't be a bad idea for me to stay here until things…blow over." That was one way of talking about the frenzied manhunt that was going on for him in the States.

"How's a town full of gang members better than a fortress in the Arctic?"

"There are fewer chances for me to mope. And Kelex was getting tired of me." Delilah stepped into the kitchen and put her notes on the table.

"Who's Kelex?"

"The Fortress' artificial intelligence. He doesn't like me much."

"Huh. Cool." Neither of them said anything for a moment.

"How are you not running away screaming?" Conner asked. "I mean, I killed a lot of people and you're just standing there." Delilah preceded her reply by pointedly sitting down next to him at the table.

"One thing you have to learn about this town: We are all insane." She smiled softly. "Though that doesn't mean you should be walking around during the day without your…disguise. Some of us are so insane that we might just try to kill you." Conner didn't look fazed by that statement and Delilah made up her mind that he would fit right in.

"Thanks for the warning."

"Welcome. Where's Zatara?"

"Basement."

"Why?"

"Working on a costume for you." Her eyes brightened and she unintentionally leaned towards him.

"Have you seen it?" Conner shook his head. Delilah sighed. "Pity." Zatara had stopped letting her have input on her costume when she vetoed both sequins and top hats in close succession. She trusted him not to create something that was impossible to fight in but beyond that she was apprehensive. Everything she'd seen before he'd insisted on making it a surprise looked too much like a Halloween magician costume for her liking.

She did not want to try to sneak up on heavily armed Jokerz while wearing a cape.

"Will you be going out tonight?" Conner asked. "Can I help?" Delilah leaned back and crossed her arms.

"How do I know that you won't snap and try to kill me?" It was a good question.

Conner's face ran quickly through a varied range of emotions. "I won't. Martian Manhunter pulled the chip thing that made me kill those people out of my head. Superman got the idea from him helping you actually so I guess I should thank you."

"Welcome." Delilah looked over at the clock on the wall and stood up quickly. "I have to go to work! I'll see you tonight."

"Tonight." Conner agreed as the girl ran out the door. He would prove to everyone, including himself, that he was just fine.

It could be the start of a great partnership, if they were able to work together without one of them wanting to put the other halfway through a wall.

* * *

 _Fight Song_ \- Rachel Platten


	5. Fight, Flight (Before)

Fight, Flight

(Before)

When Cassie prepared to knock on the door of the room Delilah was staying in she was only slightly surprised by the - _Come in.-_ that sounded in her mind. She opened the door and saw that Delilah was in full costume and glaring at herself in the mirror.

"How'd you know I was there?" Cassie asked.

- _I could sense you.-_ Delilah replied. - _I have no idea how.-_ That wasn't surprising, she had only had powers for a day. Cassie walked further into the room and went to stand beside her.

"Are you busy? A bunch of us are going to have sparring practice to kill some time until Cyborg and Starfire get back. You could join us, meet more of the team." Delilah nodded.

 _-I've been trying to get my costume to change but…-_ She gestured towards her reflection. Cassie couldn't really tell past the tight black balaclava but she was pretty sure that Delilah was grimacing.

"You'll get it eventually." she said as the costume was replaced by track pants and a T-shirt. "Are you coming?"

 _-A chance to get beaten up by Robin? I wouldn't miss it.-_

They walked through the tower towards the gym. Cassie looked sideways at the other girl and saw that she was constantly surveying the area around her like she was waiting for an attack to come.

"So, where in the city are you from?" she eventually asked. Delilah began signing her answer but quickly remembered that Cassie didn't know sign language.

 _-I'm not from San Francisco, I'm Canadian.-_

"Oh. Well where in Canada are you from?" Delilah looked carefully at Cassie.

 _-Teucer.-_ she replied. _–What about you?-_

"Gateway City, California."

 _-You have a great museum there, don't you?-_ Cassie nodded.

"My mom works there." She looked back at Delilah. "I have a theory," she announced.

 _-About what?-_

"About your powers." Delilah stopped walking and Cassie didn't notice until she had left her ten feet behind her. She turned back. "Are you okay?" Delilah gave her head a shake.

 _-Yeah.-_ She continued walking like nothing had happened. _-What's your theory?-_ She had been wracking her brain for a reason for her to suddenly have superpowers. She knew that they definitely had something to do with being dropped out of the sky but she thought that that was the trigger; she didn't know how she had gotten them in the first place.

"I'm sure that they're based in godly magic because I could sense it when you threw Robin and Conner down the hall. I think that they come from that ring you're wearing. It looks like it's Amazon made." Cassie indicated her own bracelets for comparison. Delilah looked at her with confusion.

 _-Cassie, I'm not wearing a ring.-_ Cassie was dumbstruck. She _was_ wearing a sliver ring right there on her right hand. It was impossible for her to deny it.

"What do you mean you're not wearing a ring? Look at your hand!" Cassie pointed at the ring. Delilah looked and shook her head.

 _-Cassie, there's nothing there. I did find a ring a few weeks ago but…-_ Her mouth slowly dropped open as that very ring materialized on her finger. _-How…?-_

"Magic." Cassie guessed as Delilah could obviously see the ring now.

 _-Oh.-_ Luckily they arrived at the gym right then because neither of them could think of anything else to say on the subject.

The majority of the Titans that were currently in the tower were in the gym. They were watching the ongoing match between Robin and Conner. Delilah was happy about that because it meant both that she and Cassie could enter unnoticed and that Conner wasn't able to scowl at her, which was what he'd been doing every time they ran into each other.

"Go Robin!" Bart cheered.

"Come on, Superboy!" Gar retaliated. The fight ended when Robin drove Conner into the mats and put him in a headlock. Bart and Gar cheered loudly. So did everyone else. Robin helped Conner to his feet.

"Good job." Robin said.

"Thanks." Conner noticed that Delilah was watching and, wait for it, scowled at her.

"Hey, new girl!" Gar called from across the room. He managed to draw the attention of everyone else in the room towards her. Under the deluge of gazes Delilah blushed and vanished.

"Delilah?" Cassie asked while some of the others gasped. She didn't know why, they'd seen stranger things than a girl who could become invisible.

 _-I'm here.-_ Delilah replied. _-Do they all really have to stare?-_ Cassie realized that the bank robber who was driving all the security personal in the city crazy was _shy._ She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Come on, Delilah. I'll introduce you." She looked towards Robin and Conner and gave them a _look_.

"Best two out of three?" Robin offered. Conner sighed and rolled his eyes but agreed to another match with a wry smile. While they were duking it out Cassie led Delilah around the room and introduced her to everyone. Bart was a bit too enthusiastic as was Gar but by the time they made it to Mia, Delilah had rendered herself visible and didn't look like she wanted to fly out the window.

"So, what's your name going to be?" Mia asked. Delilah shrugged.

 _-I haven't really thought about it to be honest…-_

"What about Invisible Girl?" Bart suggested. Delilah wrinkled her nose.

"The Unseen." Gar proposed in a deep, TV announcer voice. Delilah and Raven each cracked a smile and Cassie and Mia laughed quietly.

 _-I don't think so.-_

"Oof!" Conner was slammed into the mat by Robin again. "Ms. Twister." he spat out when Robin let him rise.

 _-Maybe.-_ Conner looked at her, surprised that she actually liked his sarcastic suggestion. She gave him a look that said _I don't think you're an idiot; I just dislike you on principle_ or something along those lines.

"Ventus." Robin said as he wiped imaginary sweat off of his face with a towel. "It's Latin for wind."

"I like that." Cassie agreed. Delilah just shrugged.

 _-I'll pick something eventually.-_

Conner groaned as he rolled his shoulders. "I surrender, Robin. Pick someone else to beat up, please." On cue everyone looked at Delilah. She looked around dramatically like she expected someone to be standing behind her.

 _-Fine, I volunteer as the next punching bag.-_ Bart and Gar applauded. Mia and Cassie elbowed them.

Delilah stepped up to the mat. Robin turned around and threw a bo staff at her, which she caught easily with both hands. "Okay, new girl, let's see what you can do."

The answer to that was practically nothing.

Delilah had been practicing Kali, a Filipino martial art that was extremely useful because you learned to fight with and without weapons, since she was twelve but that was the only thing she really knew how to use. Robin knew Kali plus everything else. Therefore she held her own but got clobbered after about fifteen minutes.

"Good job." Mia told her after Cassie handed her a bottle of water. Delilah nodded before remembering that she could actually talk to her.

 _-Thanks.-_

Even Conner gave her a pained smile, though with no little insistence from Cassie. "You…lasted longer than I thought you would." he admitted. Delilah smirked at him and he stuck his tongue out at her.

Gar and Bart began doing rock paper scissors to see which of them would take on Robin next. When they tied for the third time Pantha's voice came over the Tower's intercom.

"Attention, Teen Titans. Captain Cold, the Golden Glider, Weather Wizard, and Heat Wave are attacking S.T.A.R Labs. Suit up and get your butts there right now." Conner, Cassie, Robin and Delilah looked at each other. Delilah's costume replaced her clothes. A window blew open and she flew out.

"I'll go after her." Robin said. "The rest of you follow as soon as you're ready."

"Sir, yes sir!" Bart said, speeding out of the room. Robin made his way up to the open window. He jumped out and unfolded a gilder that he used to fly himself into the city.

"Let's go." Conner ordered. "Quickly!"

"And you say you never go to S.T.A.R Labs." Cassie muttered with a smirk.

"Cassie, shut up."

"Love you to."

* * *

Of course the building was on fire. The new girl turned invisible as soon as she saw smoke and rammed feet-first into the man with the flamethrower who was blasting fire into an office from a window cleaning platform. He fell sideways and lost his grip on his flamethrower, which broke away from him and fell four stories to the ground. The new girl looked into the office.

- _Robin, the tower's on fire and the sprinklers aren't going on.-_ Robin, who was about a block away when he got the new girl's message, cursed. He pressed his com unit.

"Superboy, Raven, Kid Flash, S.T.A.R Labs is on fire. I need you to go inside and make sure everyone gets out."

"Roger that." Kid Flash replied.

"On my way." Raven told him.

"Got it." Superboy confirmed. "Are you there?"

"Nearly. The new girl told me." He could practically feel the scowl that Superboy was giving. And he and the new girl had been getting along just fine a few moments ago.

"Be careful." Superboy told Robin before signing off. Robin landed behind Weather Wizard, who was using the wind to stoke the fire. He discarded his glider and tapped Weather Wizard on the shoulder. The man turned around, surprised.

"Hi." Robin said before punching him in the face. Weather Wizard went down like a sack of potatoes.

The new girl was busy on the window washing platform trying to contain Heat Wave without making the fire worse. She looked around after dodging what could have been a lucky shot on Heat Wave's part and realized something. _-Robin, weren't there supposed to be four of them?-_

Yes, yes there were.

"Titans, keep an eye out for Captain Cold and the Golden Gilder." Robin ordered over his communicator. "The new girl and I can't see them."

The other Teen Titans made noises of understanding but they didn't really have to because they arrived on the scene at that moment. Superboy, Raven and Kid Flash immediately went into the tower and began dragging people out, sometimes literally as a lot of scientists refused to leave their projects. Seriously people, the building is on fire, you do not want to be inside it.

Wonder Girl flew up to the window washing platform and threw her lasso around Heat Wave just as the new girl kicked him in the groin. _-Thanks.-_ she heard the new girl say as she lowered Heat Wave to the ground in front of the police car that had just arrived. _-I could have knocked him off the platform but I didn't want to accidentally kill him.-_

"Sure, new girl."

 _-I need a better name.-_

Speedy helped Robin drag the now struggling Weather Wizard to the police. Beast Boy turned into a hawk and flew around the building trying to see where there were people trapped inside so he could let Superboy, Raven or Kid Flash know.

A fire truck arrived and firefighters began to bring the fire under control. Kid Flash continued to help them get people out, but Superboy and Raven were noticeably absent.

Superboy's voice came over the communicators. "Guys, we found Cold and Glider. Level Seven. Raven's in a block of ice! We need-" His transmission was abruptly cut off. The three human shaped Titans who had heard him looked at each other.

"KF, Beast Boy, keep getting people out." Robin ordered. "Wonder Girl, Speedy, new girl, Level Seven."

 _-What's happening?-_ asked the new girl, who hadn't heard Superboy's message.

"Superboy and Raven need our help."

On S.T.A.R Labs Level Seven the Golden Glider was stealing files from a computer while her brother attempted to break into a triple-locked refrigerated steel cabinet. Two blocks of ice containing Raven and Superboy stood several feet away from them.

Captain Cold slammed the side of his fist into the wall in frustration as he failed, yet again, to crack the second combination lock. He couldn't just break the cabinet open by force because the stuff they came for would be ruined if he did. "This is pointless, Lisa. We only need the files anyway."

"You're the one who said it would be useful to have samples." the Golden Glider said lightly. Her fingers flew across the keyboard. She pulled an inconspicuous USB stick out of the computer. "I've got everything. Let's go."

Just as they were turning to leave the door blew open. "Going somewhere?" Wonder Girl asked. Speedy fired two arrows. The first released ropes that wrapped around Cold and Glider's legs. The second ripped Cold's cold gun from his hand.

Glider's skates activated. The blades cut through the ropes and she skated towards the teen heroes. She didn't have any choice; they were blocking the only exit. A rush of air was her only warning when Robin dropped from the ceiling and knocked her down. She fell with a yelp, the USB flying from her grip.

Cold, who had retrieved his cold gun as soon as the ropes were cut, leveled a blast at Wonder Girl and Speedy, and was surprised when it was blown back towards him. He quickly dove out of the way and almost crashed into the cabinet that he had been trying to open.

 _-I've got Captain Cold.-_ the new girl telepathically told her teammates. _-Are Superboy and Raven going to be OK?-_ Speedy pulled two flare arrows out of her quiver.

"They're not human, they'll be fine."

Robin cuffed Glider's hands behind her back, ignoring the cursing coming out of her mouth. Speedy began de-icing their teammates while Wonder Girl helped the new girl beat down Cold. Eventually the new girl just did _something_ that caused him to pass out.

"What was _that_?" Wonder Girl asked.

 _-Air pressure changes,-_ the new girl replied with surprise. _-I did not know I could do that.-_

Soon Superboy and Raven were free, Superboy noticeably grumpy, and they dragged the two criminals downstairs to the waiting police officers. No one noticed Robin picking up the USB that Glider had drooped and pocketing it.

"Well, that's that." Kid Flash said once he'd zipped over. He dusted his hands off pointedly. Beast Boy glided down and changed back to his human form a few inches above the ground.

"Everyone's out." he confirmed.

"Then we can go." Robin said. "Before the media gets here." The media was already there but the police were able to keep the reporters back on the grounds that they shouldn't crowd the paramedics. Once they left it would be complete chaos.

Robin hitched a ride back to the Tower with Superboy and Speedy went with Kid Flash. When they got there Cyborg and Starfire were waiting for them. "Hello." said everyone in their own inimitable style.

 _-Hello.-_ the new girl echoed hesitantly. Cyborg raised his eyebrow in question.

"Oh, yeah, we've got a new teammate." Robin told Cyborg and Starfire offhandedly.

"What's your name?" Starfire gently asked the air to the left of the new girl, who was still invisible. She waited.

 _-My name,-_ the new girl finally decided, _-is Wallflower.-_

* * *

 _This Will Be The Day_ \- Jeff Williams ft. Casey Lee Williams, _RWBY Volume One_ Soundtrack

* * *

A/n: OK, I give up on posting this story all at once. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and happy 2016.

-Cynder2013


	6. Fight, Flight (After)

Fight, Flight

(After)

Midnight had come and gone. Superboy had overheard a group of Jokerz planning to meet up with some Kings for a 'duel at midnight' on the football field. Wallflower had eavesdropped invisibly and gotten confirmation from three other groups of gang members. With Zatara's permission they were camped out on the roof of the high school so that they could stop them but so far, nothing.

"Maybe they meant midnight tomorrow?" Superboy suggested, his voice sounding strange coming through the metal mask that Zatara had gotten for him. It had white lenses in the eyeholes and a slit over his mouth but was otherwise featureless. His easily identifiable black and red suit was covered by a black, hooded trench coat.

In other words, he felt like a big walking cliché, though he wasn't sure which one.

Wallflower had been luckier with her costume design. Zatara had given her black boots, black cargo pants and a black jacket with sky blue sleeves and a purple mandrake flower on the back. Her magician's gloves had been dyed black. Every piece of their clothing provided by Zatara was somehow armoured enough to stop "anything that could be thrown" at them.

That armour had come in handy the first night they had teamed up because that night had involved Jokerz, exploding garbage cans, and a woman from the planet Almerac. (It's better just not to ask. Really.)

Wallflower shook her head. "It has to be tonight. Tomorrow's Halloween."

"Right." That was one of the weird things Superboy had learned about Teucer. Any holiday on the calendar meant no gang activity for that entire day. Halloween counted, so if a fight was planned it would take place before sunrise.

He heard people, a lot of people, coming towards them. "I think they're on their way."

"Good." Wallflower stretched. "Stick to the plan this time, Kon-El." She elbowed him with a smile, her eyes glinting behind her blue mask.

"I wish I hadn't told you that name."

"You're not a time traveller, so you'll just have to live with it."

Lines of Jokerz and Kings began arriving on the field. They glared at each other from opposite end zones. Kings carried guns and hunting knives. Jokerz were armed with baseball bats, battery powered drills, cans of mace, and other found weapons.

"Now?" Superboy whispered. Wallflower turned invisible.

"Now."

Before Superboy could use his TK to take them down to the field Zatara's voice rang in their ears.

"There's been a change of plan, kids. The Kings have a mage with them." Wallflower turned visible from shock. She had, perhaps naively, thought that she and Zatara were the only magic users in town. "I'll tell Wallflower how to handle him. Mask, improvise." Superboy smirked at Wallflower. She rolled her eyes at him.

While Wallflower began following Zatara's orders Superboy flew from the roof and landed in the middle of the football field. He heard Wallflower groaning when she saw what he had done. She shook her head and jumped off the roof while he still had the attention of the gang members.

Superboy spread his arms wide, practically inviting attack. He grinned, Wallflower was going to be so mad at him if they both survived this. "Hello ladies and gentlemen!" he shouted. A Kings with the gang's crowned K symbol tattooed on his left bicep stepped forward. He pointed his Glock at Superboy.

"Get lost, costume," he ordered. "This doesn't involve you."

"I think it does." Superboy turned so that everyone on the field saw him. "You see, this is my town, and you really shouldn't be welcome here." The Jokerz and the Kings all laughed.

" _Someone's got a problem!"_ one of the Jokerz's Harley Quinn imitators sang.

"You don't belong here, mask!" another Jokerz shouted.

"Yeah, take a hike!"

Superboy listened to the shouts that came from other various gang members. When there was a lull in the racket he let out his own yell. "If you want me gone you'll have to throw me out!"

His challenge was answered by a gunshot. The bullet hit the side of his head and bounced off his hood. "You'll have to try harder than that!"

"Jokerz, get him!" a man wearing a broken top hat and wielding a chain saw shouted. The Jokerz yelled and surged forwards. Superboy hadn't expected that, though Wallflower could have told him that that would happen. Even though he had shown that a killing shot wouldn't harm him they still decided to attack because Jokerz didn't do rationality. The Kings at least stayed back, he wasn't sure that he could hold off an attack from both sides.

"Is Cardin done yet?" a Kings with dyed red hair hissed. The muscular girl standing next to him shook her head.

"We've lost contact with him." The man who had asked the question blanched.

"That's not good."

* * *

Bryce Cardin, commonly called Cardin, was a low powered, self-taught mage who got most of his knowledge from books he bought online. He was a Kings, and that night he was going to summon a demon to completely crush the Jokerz.

It was a good thing that Wallflower interrupted him because the poor boy was in way over his head.

"You have to get rid of that pentangle," Zatara told her, referencing the chalk image that Cardin was painstakingly drawing on the empty road. "Try 'erase the chalk', backwards of course." Wallflower nodded even though she was invisible. She carefully spelled the sentence in her head and turned the words backwards before paying for her spell with a nervefire pin. As one could guess she then felt like all the nerves in her hand were on fire.

"Esare eht klahc," she intoned, pointing at the pentangle. The lines smudged like a giant was rubbing an eraser over them and began glowing blue for some reason. After a few more seconds, during which Cardin was frantically trying to stop his work from disappearing, the chalk was completely gone.

"What the hell?" Cardin exclaimed. His eyes darted around, looking for a person he wasn't able to find. He picked up the sword that he was going to use during the summoning and began swinging it wildly through the air. He was going to hurt himself, but that wasn't Wallflower's problem. She went over to the pile of stuff that he had prepared and wrinkled her nose. It was obvious what he was trying to do.

The book on the ground was open to a page on demon summoning that had a picture that was identical to the pentangle that she had just erased except for one rune on the edge of the circle. Zatara, who was looking through her eyes, cursed. The idiot would have set a completely unrestrained demon on the town. When he told Wallflower this she utilized her anonymity and punched Cardin in the face. He dropped to the ground, stunned.

"Do you have any idea what you could have done?" Wallflower shouted, standing over him. Her voice echoed through the empty street but it was overwhelmed by the sound of an all-out brawl coming from the school. She shouldn't have been surprised about that. It was _Superboy_ improvising.

"Give me your phone." Cardin looked confused. There was an invisible person yelling at him and demanding his cell phone. And he had just been punched in the face, which hurt a lot. Was he being mugged? He was a Kings, that wasn't right!

"What?" he asked, thinking that he'd heard the person wrong. Was it even a person? Could it just be a disembodied voice? No, voices didn't punch people.

"Your phone, now!" Wallflower ordered. Cardin fumbled in the pockets of the ridiculous jacket he was wearing and pulled out a nice new smartphone. He held it out helplessly. Wallflower plucked it out of his hand and he stared when he saw his phone just floating above him being turned on.

The phone was so new that the idiot wizard wannabe hadn't set a password yet. Wallflower quickly swiped across the screen and called the police.

"Emergency dispatch, how may I help you?" a man said.

"There's a gang fight going on at Sigurd High School," Wallflower told the man. "My friend is there trying to stop it but…"

"Please stay calm, miss," the man said. "Police and paramedics have been dispatched."

"Thank you." Wallflower looked over at the demon summoning stuff and down at Cardin, who was whimpering over the discovery that his nose was bleeding. The police probably didn't have a process for dealing with mages that were out of their element. "What do I do with you?" she asked Cardin incredulously.

"Pardon, miss?" the man asked.

"Sorry, not you." She heard sirens coming towards the school. She personally would like to be done with Cardin and have the street cleaned up before the police arrived. "Can I hang up now?"

"Please stay on the line, miss."

"Of course," she sighed. Zatara spoke and she had to squeeze the phone between her shoulder and ear so that she could take a notebook and pen out of one of the pockets of her cargo pants. "Stay," she ordered Cardin. "Or I'll turn you into a frog." She was bluffing, she couldn't manage a spell like that, but Cardin didn't know that. He went completely still, his eyes following his phone, and the notebook and pen that had appeared out of thin air.

"Pardon, miss?"

"Not you," she said. She wrote a quick note on a page of the notebook, signed it 'Wallflower', and dropped it on Cardin's chest. "Hang onto that." Cardin grabbed the note, afraid of what would happen to him if he didn't follow the person's orders.

"What's going on, miss?"

"Dnes…mih…ot…Nhoj…Enitnatsnoc," Wallflower said slowly, careful to pronounce every word properly. She didn't want to send the guy to Hell by mistake. She ignored the man on the phone when he asked what was happening again. Doing a spell was hard enough without being distracted. Again she didn't want to send the idiot to Hell. Sending him to Constantine probably wasn't much better but at least there was a chance that he'd survive that.

Cardin felt his stomach flip. Wallflower sighed in relief when he disappeared. She then cast a spell to deliver the mess of stuff that Cardin had brought to Zatara outside his wards so they didn't accidentally let in anything…bad. Her pricked palm sent wracking waves of pain through her body and she hissed.

"Miss?" the man asked, sounding anxious. "Do you need any help?"

"My name is Wallflower," she told him tersely. "And I've taken care of things here." She heard the sirens stop in front of the school and without another word she hung up. The phone rang soon after but she didn't answer.

* * *

The police arrived just as the last Jokerz hit the ground. Superboy rubbed his fist and turned to look at the Kings, who were all rooted to the spot. His TK had done that.

A policeman jumped out of his car and surveyed the scene in front of him. All of the Jokerz on the field were on the ground knocked out or nursing wounds. Most of the weapons that they had brought with them were crushed to bits. The Kings seemed to be glued in place by some invisible force because they didn't run away when they saw the cops. Their weapons were held limply at their sides like they had totally given up on fighting. Standing in the middle of it all was a man in a black trench coat with a hood pulled over his head. When he turned around the officer saw the blank faced steel mask he was wearing.

The strange man started walking towards them and every officer pulled out a gun. The gang members still weren't going anywhere and anyone who could beat down Jokerz and scare Kings wasn't someone that the police were going to face unarmed. "Identify yourself!" one brave officer shouted.

The man stopped walking. He tilted his head like he was thinking. When he spoke his voice was eerily robotic. "Some people call me 'Abomination'. I guess you can to." With that he vanished, leaving the shocked gang members to the police.

* * *

"Did you see their faces?" Superboy laughed. Wallflower shook her head at him with a lopsided smile on her face. They were sitting on top of the church down the street from the high school keeping an eye on what was going on.

"Did you have to be so dramatic?" she asked. "You could have stopped the Jokerz to, not just the Kings." Superboy shrugged.

"I had to buy time. Besides, you're the one who made me disappear into thin air."

"True. That was necessary though. 'Abomination' has to be at least somewhat different from Superboy."

"True," he admitted. "So, what was up with that mage?" Wallflower shivered.

"An unprepared amateur trying to summon a demon. I sent him to an…acquaintance of Zatara with a note asking for him to be trained enough not to be a danger to society."

The police cars and ambulances shrieked away, down the street, around the corner, and out of sight. Wallflower and Superboy stood. Wallflower smiled with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Watch this." She jumped off the building. Superboy hurried to catch her and be really to yell at her once she was safe but he didn't have to. She flew up past him so fast that his coat whipped in the wind. Then she went around the cross crowning the highest peak of the roof before landing beside him. His mouth dropped open under his mask.

"You…you can fly." She nodded. "Since when?"

"About twenty minutes ago."

"You're a fast learner."

"You have seen where I've lived my whole life. That's a requirement." She had a point. He elbowed her.

"Just for scaring me, tomorrow night you're coming over and we're watching _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom._ " Wallflower groaned.

"I _hate_ that movie."

"I know. So, it's a date."

"Only if we watch _The Empire Strikes Back_ after."

"Deal." They flew home, listening to the sirens tearing through the town with smiles on their faces.

* * *

Delilah had never gone to New York before. She had definitely never gone to New York to meet a group of teenage superheroes who were probably really mad at her boyfriend. She had also never had a boyfriend with superpowers, or had superpowers herself, or known that she wasn't exactly human.

Her life had changed a lot in the past few months.

To be fair, going to see the Teen Titans had been her idea. After a whole lot of insisting and beseeching Superboy got a trial and, thanks to evidence provided by Martian Manhunter and an alien woman named Maxima , was found not criminally responsible. People still hated him but at least he wasn't being hunted down anymore.

Back to New York. Conner hadn't seen any of his old friends in ages and Delilah knew that he was worried about them. The pacing back and forth while she and Zatara were meditating and constantly looking at News 52 were big giveaways. The news was mostly focusing on the 'gang' uncovered in Star City and the exploits of bigger heroes. Social media was full of stuff about the Teen Titans but it was hard to tell what was real and what wasn't. Case in point, Wonder Girl supposedly being seen on a date with an African princess. So Delilah suggested that they just go to New York and see what was going on. Conner agreed and thus they were flying towards the Big Apple with their hair streaming behind them and passing birds doing double takes.

"So, do you actually know where your friends are?" Delilah as Wallflower asked as they passed over the Hudson River. Conner as Superboy bit his lip.

"They had a boat last time I saw them." he offered. Looking down at all the boats in the harbour he admitted that that wasn't nearly enough to go on. Wallflower saw the name of one large boat and stopped flying.

"I think that might be it." She pointed to the boat. Superboy blinked rapidly.

"Probably." He nodded. "Who else would name a ship _Titan's Tower_?" They descended carefully with Wallflower gripping Superboy's hand so that both of them were invisible. When they had first mentioned this trip Zatara had told them about a voodoo guy called Papa Midnite who owned the magical underworld of Manhattan like the Kings owned the Teucer arms trade. Neither of them wanted to draw his attention or the attention of the Cult of the Cold Flame, which was a group he was working with.

Their feet clinked on the deck. The green lizard that had been sunning itself on the stair railing jumped and turned into a growling green lion. Superboy let go of Wallflower's limp hand and held his hands up in the air. "Beast Boy, it's me. Superboy." The lion turned into a green boy with freckles and a turned up nose.

"Superboy?" Beast Boy surged forwards and did his best to crush Superboy in a hug. "Dude, where've you been? Your trial was _weeks_ ago!"

"I didn't think you'd want to see me," Superboy murmured. Wallflower lightly slapped the back of his head.

"You're an idiot," Beast Boy said.

"I know."

"I'm going to tell everyone you're here now."

"I know."

"Stay put."

"I know." Beast Boy ran off the deck and into the belly of the boat.

"He seems nice," Wallflower whispered. Superboy gave a small nod. Yeah, Beast Boy was great.

About two minutes later he was back on deck with the other five Teen Titans behind him. "I told you Superboy was back!" All of the Titans stared. Skitter made a surprised rasping sound.

"Hola,hermano," Bunker eventually said with a smile. "Where have you been?" The other Titans began asking the same question and a whole lot of others, excluding Red Robin, who likely knew exactly what Superboy had been up to. Soon they were all trying to talk over each other in a tidal wave of noise.

"Hold it!" Superboy shouted. "I have to introduce you to someone."

"Who is it?" Red Robin asked, looking directly at where the invisible Wallflower was standing. This was why Teucer was 'Gotham of the North', he was more observant than most Teucerains.

Superboy looked over at her, using her heartbeat to pinpoint her location. "Guys, this is my girlfriend Wallflower." Wonder Girl's face turned pink and her jaw tightened.

Wallflower turned visible and gave a limp wave. "Hi."

"Your girlfriend," Wonder Girl said flatly. "That's great." Skitter chittered at her.

"Let's go below decks," Red Robin suggested. "You have a lot to tell us about."

* * *

 _Team_ \- Lorde


	7. Superboy-Prime (Before)

A/n: Time skip warning.

* * *

Superboy-Prime

(Before)

Falling out of the sky after almost having your heart crushed by a punch from an angry Kyrptionan and snapping your legs when you land awkwardly on a dumpster is just as painful as it sounds. Wallflower lay on top of the dumpster, dazed, and helplessly watched Superboy-Prime fly away across Metropolis. She had failed to stop him, but that wasn't a surprise since she was the only one who had been fighting him at that point. Well, Green Arrow and Speedy had hit him with some exploding arrows but those had stopped halfway through the fight. She didn't know what had happened to them.

Her broken sternum burned. That had been a lucky shot on Prime's part since she had been invisible for the entire fight. It was lucky for her that he hadn't hit her in the head or she would be dead, no questions asked, just like Pantha, and Wildebeest, and Superboy, and countless other heroes. She tried to ignore her pain so that she wouldn't end up dumping it on Robin when she contacted him. She also tried to ignore the gaping hole that was all that was left of her connection with Superboy. She didn't even want to touch her connection with Wonder Girl, which was burning with pain and anger even though it wasn't supposed to go both ways.

 _-Incoming. Hope I stalled him for long enough.-_ Robin's voice came through her communicator. He was mad, but seemed relieved that she was alive.

"If we survive this you're on dish duty for a month."

 _-Just get the murdering bastard, Batkid.-_

"We'll try."

Silence. Wallflower continued to shove down her pain so that she could take stock of her injuries. _Shattered sternum,_ she decided, broken legs obviously. She could still feel her legs so her spine wasn't broken but her back hurt so it could be fractured. She had slowed down her fall as much as she could while overwhelmed by pain and had managed to stop her head from hitting anything. She strained her eyes to look at her legs and was disconnected enough that she didn't feel like throwing up when she saw the several unnatural angles they were bent at. _I have to straighten those out_ , she realized. If she didn't then they would just end up dead. She healed fast, but not fast enough that they would heal before that.

It could be worse. It could always be worse.

Sounds of battle reached her ears. Trash was thrown up on the street that she could see from her place atop the dumpster and she knew that Bart had arrived. She didn't mind that he went right past her, he had his own job to do and she could take care of herself.

She hoped.

So, back to fixing her legs. She decided to do something that was probably stupid but better than possibly breaking her spine. She slowly began to hover above the dumpster in the same position she had landed. Once she had gotten up high enough she 'stood' and let gravity take care of everything else. She could swear that she heard bones grinding together and for the first time in her life she just wanted to scream as loud as humanly possible, but of course she couldn't. She just had to tough it out on her own because she couldn't risk distracting her friends by shrieking in their heads.

She couldn't stop herself from throwing up but at least it was just bile. She hadn't eaten anything since…she couldn't remember when she had last eaten. It was before Superboy, before _Conner_ had died. _Everything_ was before Conner had died.

She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. She wanted to cry. She hadn't cried when Pantha was killed or when Superboy-Prime had thrown her into a tree and taken out half of her left hand with his heat vision. She hadn't cried when Conner died because she had been holding Cassie while she cried.

She wanted to cry now.

"Over here, Jimmy!" a woman exclaimed. Wallflower flinched and prepared to turn invisible. No one normal would be on the streets at a time like this and she wasn't fit for any sort of fight.

A dark haired woman with a notebook and pen turned to corner of the alleyway followed by an orange haired man carrying a camera. Oh, they were reporters. That explained everything. Wallflower stared at the reporters. The reporters stared at Wallflower.

"I told you I saw something." the woman hissed to her partner. She then turned to Wallflower with a winning smile. "Lois Lane of the _Daily Planet._ " So this was the famous Lois Lane. There had been talk about her in Titan's Tower. She looked Wallflower up and down, taking in her sky blue mask, the black stripes going up the front of her legs, and the weird black cross belt/belt with a flower over her heart that was probably the only reason that her heart was still beating. "You're Wallflower, right?" Wallflower gave a small nod, which was a bad idea. Her neck hurt. Good to know.

There was a flash of light as Jimmy snapped a picture and her head throbbed once before her healing powers decided to kick in. Her central nervous system was admittedly more important than her legs. "Do you have time for an interview?"

She shook her head carefully. _-You should leave. It's dangerous for you to be outside.-_ she told them. Lois pressed on. She didn't seem fazed by Wallflower speaking to her telepathically. Jimmy on the other hand jumped a foot in the air and almost dropped his camera.

"What about a statement?"

She still wanted to cry, but that wasn't the type of statement Ms. Lane wanted. She shook her head again. Then Jimmy did something stupid.

"Can't you tell us about Superboy?" he asked. "I mean, you two had your whole rivalry thing going on-"

 _-HE WAS MY FRIEND!-_ Jimmy stumbled back as her forceful words bounced around his head. _-We may have fought half the time and tried to one-up each other but he was my_ friend _and now he's_ gone _!-_ She was crying by the time she was finished. She and Superboy had been friends even though they had shared a mutual dislike of each other when she had first joined the team. They had started off hating each other, moved on to being frenemies, and then finally become friends, much to Wonder Girl's relief, with the exception of when they were fighting anything. At those times each of them had to try to be better than the other, it was just what they did.

Lois looked like she wanted to give Wallflower a hug, but since the girl was hovering in the air six feet above them she settled for thoroughly berating Jimmy. Wallflower might have been embarrassed on his behalf if she'd actually noticed the yelling that Ms. Lane was doing.

She was still yelling when bodies started falling out of the sky. The reporters looked around in horror while Wallflower wiped away her tears. _-You should leave.-_ she told them again. _-I have work to do.-_ Even though she couldn't fight she couldn't just float there and be useless. She'd had her cry, now she needed to help other people who were injured.

She was a Teen Titan after all. Their job was to help people, no matter what.

* * *

 _Carry On_ -Fun

* * *

A/n: The corresponding "After" chapter for this is going to be the **last** chapter of this story. You'll understand why once it's up. Next is not the Blackest Night arc (sorry, I miscounted).

-Cynder2013


	8. New Recruits (Before)

New Recruits

(Before)

Life at Titans Tower became hard after Conner died. It became even worse after they lost Bart. Someone who didn't know what it was like before they died would assume that the Titans were getting along just fine, all of the new members did, but for all the old Titans the differences were obvious. Gar cracked fewer jokes and snapped whenever he saw someone eating meat. Tim spent more and more time in his lab until he had to be dragged out for meals and public appearances. Raven and Delilah kept themselves sequestered in the library reading or doing homework or just curling up and staring at the walls. Mia hardly came by the tower anymore, choosing instead to keep busy with Green Arrow in Star City. Cassie had the most extreme reaction. She joined a cult dedicated to Superboy, so everyone was worried about her in addition to dealing with their own problems.

Delilah actually felt better at Titans Tower than she did at home. The job that her brother had gotten at S.T.A.R Labs had moved them permanently to San Francisco, but the apartment that they lived in didn't feel like home to her. It was too small, and too large, and too everything. Every footstep echoed between the walls like the room was empty, which it actually was most of the time. David always seemed to be at work, Delilah tried her best to fly between her school and the tower, and their mum spent all her free time with the friends she had made. Delilah was sometimes forced to stay home by David, whose overprotectiveness had grown to insurmountable proportions over the years. She'd usually do papers and things for university, collage since they were in the States, or shut herself in her room if Wallflower had been in a really bad fight.

When she'd locked herself in her room while her legs were healing she could hear their next door neighbor yelling at his wife and wished that Wallflower could go over and slap him silly. When she tried to practice trying to walk without limping she could cover the longest part of the room in three strides and the air had quickly become stale from her crying and the lack of a window. She'd cried a lot that week. If her mum hadn't done the laundry her bedding would probably have become moldy.

The new members of the team handled the reactions of the old members pretty well. Captain Marvel Jr. didn't even flinch when he was unofficially given Robin's unofficial job of unofficial team leader. Wallflower still reported to Robin though. She could contact him from long distances and it was nicer to talk to someone when they only had one voice in their head.

Wallflower didn't join in the team's public appearances, she never had. On one day that they were at the base of the tower signing autographs she was inside on monitor duty. She ended up contacting Robin and Wonder Girl about twenty minutes in.

 _-There's a flying guy with a crocodile coming towards us. Look west.-_

Robin looked west and indeed he saw a flying guy with a crocodile. He almost hadn't believed Wallflower. Almost. "Junior." Captain Marvel Jr. looked away from the T-shirt he was signing and saw what Robin was pointing at. He managed not to groan, but only because there were too many people watching.

Osiris landed just as Junior achieved getting the other Titans to notice him. Beast Boy turned into a gorilla, Wonder Girl gripped her lasso and glared at the intruder. The crowd of civilians backed away except for a few people who started recording what was going on. Wallflower watched from the monitoring room, her fingers fluttering over the keyboard.

"Osiris." Junior acknowledged. "You shouldn't be here."

"I want to join the Teen Titans." Osiris said. "Please, just give me a chance."

"I-"

 _-Do it.-_ Wallflower ordered. Junior's entire body jolted. _-Give him a chance, Junior.-_ The gods in his head began speaking.

 _-Do not dismiss him out of hand.-_ Solomon warned. _-He could be a great asset, or a great enemy if ignored.-_

Mercury's advice was more to the point. _-Listen to the girl.-_

"Come inside." Junior told Osiris slowly. "We'll talk."

* * *

They let Osiris join the team, sort of. Unlike when Wallflower had joined, Osiris had been put on probation and could be kicked out at any time without warning. He hadn't even done anything. Wallflower had at least stolen money; Osiris just had the misfortune of being part of the wrong family. Junior pulled Wallfower aside when the impromptu meeting was over and Osiris was receiving a fairly enthusiastic welcome from the rest of the team. His man-crocodile Sobek was gulping down the cheese and crackers that somehow accompanied each meeting.

"I want you to keep an eye on him. See everywhere he goes, everyone he meets."

 _-You don't trust him so you want me to spy on him.-_ Junior turned pink at the accusation but he didn't deny it.

 _-Maybe you're being too cautious.-_ Atlas pointed out. Junior ignored him.

"Just do it."

 _-Yes sir, mister leader sir.-_ Junior blinked.

"You're being sarcastic, aren't you?"

 _-Yes sir, mister leader sir.-_ Junior rolled his eyes and walked away. Wallflower looked towards Osiris. She sent her thoughts to him and to all their teammates surrounding him, successfully pushing back the voices trying to break into her mind. _–Hey, new kid, you want a tour?-_ Osiris put his hands to his temples. He still wasn't used to having multiple people talking to him in his head and adding Wallflower's voice to the babble was _not_ helpful. He looked over at her after he'd gotten the gods in his head to shut up for one second.

"Sure." he said hesitantly. Miss Martian laughed and pushed him gently towards her.

"Don't worry, Wallflower'll take care of you." she promised.

Wallflower smiled _-I can't promise that.-_ Miss Martian rolled her eyes.

"Just go."

* * *

Wallflower had somehow managed to give Osiris a full tour of Titans Tower without getting him beheaded (a real danger with Zatara's boomerang machete on the third floor) and was now following her order from Junior. She was following behind Osiris and Sobek as they flew over the city. She stayed far enough back that neither Osiris nor his damn crocodile was able to sense her but not so far back that she couldn't catch up with him when he dropped down into Golden Gate Park. _What is he up to?_

Osiris hovered a few inches above the ground and looked around. He was sure that he had seen someone through the trees but he couldn't see anyone now. "Sobek-" Something in front of him exploded. He went one way and Sobek went another. Above them Wallflower tumbled backwards though the sky and fell into a tree.

With his vision doing loop-de-loops Osiris reached for his Titans communicator only to come up with a handful of electronics guts. He jumped up and was almost immediately punched in the face. A meaty hand grabbed the front of his costume and electricity arched through his body. He yelled. The person holding him laughed.

"Hey, kid, look at me when I'm talking to you!" More electricity arched through him.

"Don't fry him, Electrocutioner," another man said. "We don't want to kill him…right?"

" _Oui_. Put 'im down." Electrocutioner listened to the woman and Osiris was dropped to the ground. Up in her tree Wallflower sent mental messages to Robin and Wonder Girl asking for backup _right away_ while she struggled to get untangled from branches so that she could help Osiris with the four supervillains surrounding him. Oh, him and Sobek, who was being held by his throat by Persuader.

"What should we do with the reptile?" Electrocutioner looked over his shoulder at Persuader.

"The Killer Croc wannabe? Hit it with your ax or something."

At this point all the gods in Osiris' head were shouting for him to GET UP, which did not help him with seeing straight. "Leave Sobek alone!" Persuader smirked.

"Make me, kid." Osiris let out a yell. In one swift motion he pushed Electrocutioner out of his way and flew towards Persuader. Captain Boomerang pulled out one of his exploding creations and threw it at the boy. It was a race between the boomerang and the Teen Titan that was cut short when a tornado sprung up, blocking Osiris' way to Persuader and sending both him and the boomerang spiraling in opposite directions. Osiris pulled up before he hit a large oak and the boomerang exploded in the trunk of a young maple, sending splinters flying through the air.

"Who did that?" Captain Boomerang turned around in a circle while Plastique's eyes flitted from tree to tree. While they were looking around and Electrocutioner was trying to get out of the thorny bush Osiris had pushed him into, Wallflower went in front of Persuader and punched him as hard as she could in the throat. Her metal knuckles tore through the synthetic skin covering them.

Oops.

Persuader doubled over, gasping, and she created another tornado to rip his ax away from him. Sobek took the opportunity to escape. He went running through the trees, looking for Osiris. Obviously Plastique and Captain Boomerang noticed. He pulled out another boomerang but put it away when Plastique waved her hand at him. She touched the ground and caused the earth around Persuader to explode.

Wallflower wasn't expecting that. The force of the blast sent her tumbling backwards and she hit her head on a tree trunk. Soil rained down, covering her in a film of dust.

"Look, the kid's got a girlfriend!" Electrocutioner pointed at her. He pulled a thorn out of his arm and electricity crackled between his hands. "What's your name, girlie?"

"Are you talking to me?" Electrocutioner yelped when Wonder Girl punched him in the face. "Because I don't appreciate being called 'girlie'."

 _-Great timing.-_ Wonder Girl didn't turn away from the process of tying Electrocutioner up with her lasso.

"I try."

"Nrut eht sgnaremoob dnuora!" The two boomerangs that Captain Boomerang had thrown at Wonder Girl and Wallflower spun back towards him and pinned him to a tree. Zachary Zatara grinned down from his flying carpet. "You're welcome, beautiful."

 _-Wonder Girl, please remind me to punch him when the world stops spinning.-_

"Of course."

The sound of explosions from Captain Marvel Jr. and Raven battling Plastique and the stream of expletives that Persuader was croaking out as Robin restrained him made it easy for Osiris and Sobek to make their way back to them. "Let's get these guys back to Belle Reve," Robin said once everything had settled down. "Raven, take Wallflower, Osiris, and Sobek home." Raven nodded and floated over to help Wallflower up out of the dirt. Junior looked at Osiris and Sobek with a wary look in his eyes but yielded to the Boy Wonder's judgment.

While Delilah was studying in her room in the tower after dinner Osiris knocked on her window. She looked at him sideways from her desk. _-Are we needed downstairs?-_ He shook his head and motioned for her to open the window. A cold wind blew him into the room. She warmed up the blanket of air and wrapped it around herself . _-What is it, Osiris?-_ Osiris rubbed the back of his head.

"I, uh, wanted to thank you. For saving my life."

 _-You're welcome.-_

"And, uh, Captain Marvel Jr. told me that you asked him to let me on the team." Delilah's eyes widened momentarily. Junior hadn't mentioned that giving Osiris a chance had been her suggestion before.

 _-That? Well, Robin wasn't going to vouch for you so it just fell to the only former criminal. As these things do.-_ Osiris coughed.

"You were a criminal?" His voice was raised half an octave by the last word.

 _-Robbed banks. Don't worry, I turned out this well, you'll do just fine. Soon you won't be able to think of anywhere else as home.-_ Osiris' forehead wrinkled.

"Uh, thanks?"

 _-You're welcome. Now, there's a list of wound types that I need to memorize so goodnight.-_

"Goodnight," he replied slowly. He flew out of the window, ignoring the gods berating him.

Delilah had just gotten the window shut, curtains closed, and the fresh air circulating around the room when Cassie stopped outside her door. She waited. When the other girl didn't knock she lightly told her that unless she was planning to stand in the hallway all night she'd better come in. They stood across the room from each other until Cassie finally spoke, softly, haltingly, just as she had been all afternoon.

"You could have been killed."

 _-I'm a Teen Titan, Cassie. That hazard comes with the job.-_

"But you could have died. Like Conner." Cassie let out a hissing breath and her face hardened. "You could have died for a kid who can clearly take care of himself." Delilah crossed the room to place a hand on her shoulder. Cassie's arm twitched like she wanted to shrug her away.

 _-He would have killed Persuader if I hadn't stopped him.-_

"And that would have been so bad?" Delilah flinched. "Just one less murderer for us to deal with."

 _-Osiris' life would be ruined, and we would probably get in trouble because he's part of our team.-_ Cassie sighed and all the tension flowed out of her.

"You're right, but you could still have been killed. Like Conner." Cassie began to tremble. Delilah took her hand and tugged her towards her bed. Cassie crumpled onto the edge of the mattress and Delilah sat down beside her, holding her while she waited for the first tears to fall. This had become routine for them. Since Conner had died it had become almost impossible for them to come out of a conversation mentioning him without Cassie crying. Maybe Delilah was just too easy to cry around. Almost exactly the same thing happened with Tim, and he _never_ cried around other people.

"We're going to bring him back." Cassie's voice was muffled in the softness of Delilah's pajama top.

 _-Dead is dead, Cassie.-_ Delilah briefly thought about mentioning Tim's failed attempts to clone Conner but she had promised him that she wouldn't tell anyone. Their world had some pretty messed up things but a line had to be drawn somewhere. Bringing people back to life just wasn't natural, no matter how many times it had happened before, no matter how wide open the doors between life and death were. Sure they'd gotten to keep some of the greatest heroes, but not all of them. _-Some random luck could bring him back to life but we can't do anything about it. Superman died once and he came back without anyone trying to resurrect him. If Conner is meant to live again then he will.-_

"I would give anything to have him back."

 _-Even your own life? You know Conner wouldn't want that. He loved you, still loves you wherever he is now, and he wouldn't want you to die for him._ We _wouldn't want you to die to bring him back.-_ Cassie drew back and looked into Delilah's eyes. They were simmering with unshed tears.

"That's not what I meant."

 _-You said you'd give anything.-_ Cassie blushed.

"Maybe not anything."

 _-Cassie, we all miss Conner but we have to move on, eventually. Conner would want that. He'd want you to be happy again.-_ Cassie rested her head on Delilah's shoulder and didn't reply. _-I loved him to.-_ Delilah's mental voice was almost imperceptible as she admitted this for the first time. _-I loved him and it hurts me every day that he's gone but we have to keep going.-_

"You loved him?" There was no heat to Cassie's question, just a sort of wistful sadness. Delilah nodded slowly. "Why didn't you say anything?"

 _-Because he could only ever love you and you're my friend who was in love with him.-_

"I kissed Tim." Delilah blinked.

 _-You what?-_

"I kissed Tim. After the funeral. We were both crying. It just sort of happened."

 _-Huh.-_ Delilah didn't know how else to respond. They were justified, that had been a bad week. _-Where was I when this happened?-_

"Stopping Gar from drinking himself to death."

 _-Oh. Right.-_ She remembered now. That had been a _really_ bad week. _-Why are you telling me this now?-_

"Because I wish it had been the other way around."

 _-You'd rather have been getting Gar not to empty out an entire bar while in the form of a howler monkey?-_

"No." Cassie tilted her head and caught Delilah's lips with her own. Delilah was too stunned to do anything to stop her.

 _-Cassie!-_ Cassie turned around and pushed Delilah further onto the bed.

"You're the one who said we have to move on."

 _-Conner…-_

"Would want us to be happy."

 _-Quit using my own words against me.-_ Cassie leaned down and kissed her again.

"Do you want me to stop?" she murmured against Delilah's cheek.

 _-No.-_

* * *

Gar did not appreciate being sent on alarm clock duty. Sure he was the only Titan who could crawl under a door and turn into a rooster on the other side, but he didn't enjoy being targeted by fireballs/ tornadoes/ lightning bolts/ anything within reach that could be thrown when he succeeded in waking his teammates up. Unsurprisingly, none of the other Teen Titans were really morning people. Captain Marvel Junior wanted all of them downstairs for a meeting though so there he was, dodging forks that had been magically fired at him by Zachary. Zachary's state of half-asleep was the only reason that they weren't still feathers.

After he managed to lose the last fork by getting it to fly into the ceiling Gar headed towards Cassie's room with great trepidation. She could either throw a bone-cracking punch first and ask questions later, or wrap him up like a Christmas present with her lasso and push him out her window. Neither option was appealing.

He knocked on her door first, two loud raps that woke up Holly Granger in the next room over. Then when that didn't work he turned into an ant and hurried under the door. The hurrying was mostly so that he wouldn't get squashed by the pillow that Holly had hurdled at him. He dodged a boot that was sitting by the door and went over to the closet so that he could crow from a safer distance. When he turned into a rooster and gained a greater perspective he realized that Cassie wasn't there. The bed was neatly made and the air was cold. The kryptonite on her altar glowed in the faint light. "Great," he sighed, and then "Uh oh." He shook his head. "Junior, I think we've lost Cassie," he said though his communicator. "She's not in her room."

"Robin just got in. She was probably out to," Junior said sensibly. Gar rolled his eyes as much as he could when he was a rooster.

"If you say so." He hurried to wake up everyone else. When he reached Delilah's door he repeated the process of knocking loudly, turning into an insect, and dodging articles of clothing on the way in. This time when he changed forms he saw that the bed was not empty and that there was a good explanation for the ridiculous amount of clothing on the floor. Fowl met desk lamp with a crash. Cassie stirred slightly and Delilah's eyes shot open as the lamp vibrated on the floor.

Fact: Roosters can't fly in tornadoes. Gar gave it a damn good try though. It was only when Delilah realized that she was tossing around a green bird that the wind died down and everything that had been spinning though the air fell to the floor. _-Gar?-_

"Present," the dizzy bird muttered. He stumbled around and eventually just fell down next to a pink sock. Delilah blushed, for more than one reason, and moved the bedsheet so that she and Cassie were completely covered.

 _-Sorry.-_

"I'm okay," Gar promised, raising a wingtip in salute. "Just give me a minute for the room to stop spinning."

"Gar, what's going on?" Junior's voice came from Gar's communicator, which had turned on after he crashed. Delilah looked at him with wide eyes.

"Just a bit of freak weather," Gar replied, looking back at her stoically. "Delilah's awake."

"Ah," Junior said. Then he turned off his communicator and left Gar and Delilah staring at each other in silence.

 _-Please don't tell anyone.-_ Delilah's 'voice' was so quiet that Gar wasn't totally sure that she'd said anything.

"I won't tell anyone," he said. "Junior wants everyone downstairs for the let's-really-decide-if-we're-going-to-kick-Osiris-out meeting."

 _-Work clothes?-_ Gar tried not to look at the clothes scattered on the floor.

"Civvies are fine."

 _-We'll be there.-_ Gar nodded jerkily, turned back into an ant, and stumbled out of the room. When he was gone Delilah took away the soundproofing that she had put up around Cassie and shook her gently.

 _-Time to get up.-_ Cassie pried her eyes open and rolled over.

"Is it morning already?"

 _-Yes, sleepyhead. Junior's even calling a meeting.-_ Cassie sighed.

"Great…" She blinked. "Wait, does that mean…?"

 _-Yes.-_

"So he…?"

 _-Yes.-_ Cassie pulled the sheet over her head. _-He promised not to tell.-_

"He'd better or I'll strangle him."

 _-I'll help.-_ Delilah promised. _-But right now we actually have to get up. It's the "let's-really-decide-if-we're-going-to-kick-Osiris-out" meeting.-_ Cassie groaned but willingly rolled out of bed and began getting dressed.

"Delilah, what are we now?" Delilah paused while taking a shirt from her drawer.

 _-The same as usual,-_ she replied eventually. _-Whatever we need to be.-_

* * *

 _Dangerous_ \- David Guetta ft. Sam Martin

* * *

A/n: ...So if you aren't OK with this you go right ahead and stop reading.

-Cynder2013


	9. New Recruits (After)

New Recruits

(After)

Hitting a river after falling from the height of a commercial airliner was by far the most exciting way to get the wind knocked out of you. That was what Wallflower decided anyway, after she was able to breathe again. Actually, breathing wasn't possible underwater, unless she wanted to drown. Oops.

Wallflower sensed water rushing past her and then she was able to gulp in air after coughing out a quarter of the Hudson River. "Thanks, Aqualad."

"No problem." Aqualad looked up, his eyes following the paths of White Canary's rocket-assisted arrows as they disappeared into the sky. White Canary nocked another arrow and fired in the direction Skitter indicated. "When is Martian Manhunter going to get here?" Wallflower shrugged, which was hard to do while treading water.

"New York's not the only place under attack." Aqualad nodded solemnly and handed her her bo staff, which she had dropped on the way down. She dipped her head in thanks and flew back up to the battle, returning to invisibility as she went.

The Teen Titans were fighting for their lives. A White Martian dove towards Bunker, its hands extended towards his head. Bunker was busy punching another White Martian and was standing on a floating platform made of his bricks so he didn't have any wiggle room. Wallflower intercepted the White Martian by hitting it in the face with her bo staff and moving to strangle it when it swiped at her with three inch long claws. Of course, it density shifted through the staff.

"When _is_ Martian Manhunter getting here?" she shouted to Red Robin, who was playing a potentially deadly game of tag with another White Martian. Red Robin automatically spoke into his communicator before shaking his head and shouting back.

"Soon."

"Great." Superboy grunted as the White Martian he was fighting punched him in the gut. Raven retaliated for him by using her magic to send the Martian tumbling towards the Hudson. The water reached up and grabbed it.

"About time," Wonder Girl muttered. She punched the White Martian attacking her and clenched her teeth when her arm sank into it up to her wrist. "Let me hit you properly!" The White Martian laughed and swiped at Beast Boy, who was flying around its head in the form of an African crowned eagle.

One of White Canary's arrows sank into the back of the Martian Bunker was fighting and exploded in a ball of fire. The Martian screamed and the other Martians scattered, flying as far away from their burning comrade as they could without getting themselves killed by one of the other Titans. Bunker muttered something about how he thought that they were trying to keep fatalities down and then used the bricks that he'd been using to try to punch the Martian to a pulp to put the fire out. Unfortunately it was too late for the Martian. Its blackened body fell towards the river, crumbling as it went. Aqualad wouldn't be happy about that, Martian ashes probably wrecked hell on aquatic ecosystems. The Hudson River did not need to get any more polluted.

The remaining White Martians began to gather for a coordinated attack but they froze when Raven lit a roaring fire in each of her upturned palms. "I would suggest that you stay put unless you wish to go the way of your friend," she told them calmly. The Martians looked at each other.

"She'll do it," Superboy assured them. "Her dad's a demon. Fire is second nature to her." The Martian at the head of the group grimaced.

 _-We surrender, younglings, but your planet will be ours.-_

"Like hell," Wonder Girl muttered.

Red Robin glided past Raven. "Incoming, ten o'clock." Wallflower looked to Raven's left and saw the oncoming form of a flying green man, Martian Manhunter. In his hands he was carrying a ray gun that was attached with tubing to a metal and glass backpack-like storage tank. When he fired the gun at the nearest White Martian it liquefied and vanished.

 _-What have you done, J'onzz?-_ The 'voice' of the White Martian ripped through all their minds. Bunker lost control of his pile of bricks and had to be caught by Aqualad when he got close enough to the water. Beast Boy changed back into his human form and tumbled towards the boat where Skitter and White Canary were based. Skitter caught him so that he wouldn't crack his head open. Wonder Girl, Superboy, and Wallflower also dropped out of the sky but managed to catch themselves before they fell too far. Raven, Red Robin, and Martian Manhunter were the only ones who were unfazed. Martian Manhunter proceeded to shoot all of the White Martians with the ray gun and the tank on his back was soon full of white sludge. He looked at the teenage superheroes hovering around him.

"Those were the last ones. I will take care of them. It is the weekend, you should relax." With that he flew away. After a moment, Wallflower spoke.

"Do all Green Martian talk like that or is it just him?"

* * *

With one hand White Canary caught the bo staff that was flying towards her head. "Thanks for letting me borrow that." She rolled her eyes at Wallflower and tossed the weapon back to her roommate.

"Keep it. You need a real weapon since you refuse to use magic." Wallflower frowned at her.

"I don't want to get addicted to it. Is that so wrong? Don't answer that. Seivvic." Wallflower's costume changed back into her regular clothes, which were soaking wet from her dip in the Hudson. White Canary wrinkled her nose as she removed her white cloth face mask.

"You stink." Delilah grinned.

"That's why I call dibs on the shower."

"No argument here." Emiko Queen continued changing out of her costume while Delilah grabbed a towel and clean clothes and headed for the girls' washroom. After she had gotten dressed and refilled her quiver Emi went up to the deck where the rest of the Teen Titans were gathering. While everyone had been pulling themselves together, Tim had put up the _Titans Tower_ 's "empty deck" hologram so that they could be outside without any identity concealment.

Everyone on deck was lazing about in the sun while they waited for Tim. Gar, Miguel, Jackson Hyde,and Celine had started playing a card game. Conner was using his TK to keep a bottle cap spinning on the railing. He looked up when Emi approached. "Did you see Tim on the way up?" Emi shook her head. "What about Delilah?"

"She's taking a shower." Conner nodded and went back to looking at the spinning bottle cap. Deciding that she wouldn't be able to get any conversation out of him, Emi left Conner and went to join Cassie, who was sitting on top of the bit of roof that was overhanging the door. Cassie watched out of the corner of her eye as the younger girl executed several tricky jumps to reach the roof.

"It would have been easier if you'd gone right instead of left," she said when Emi said down beside her. Emi shrugged.

"I like a challenge." She tilted her head back and enjoyed the feeling of the wind blowing through her hair.

"How do you like being part of the team so far?" Emi thought for a moment.

"It's nice. Green Arrow won't let me help with anything at home." Cassie grinned.

"Well, around here we're not sidekicks."

The top of Delilah's head appeared below them, her wet hair reflecting the sunlight. Cassie put a finger to her lips, picked up the worn die that one of the boys had left on the roof, and dropped it onto Delilah's shoulder. Delilah spun around, reaching for the cross around her neck with one hand. When she caught sight of Cassie and Emi sitting on the roof with Emi giggling at her silently she rolled her eyes. Emi pointed at Cassie and Delilah calmly flipped her off before walking over to the railing where Conner was standing.

Suddenly there was a loud splash as Jackson dove into the river. Conner looked in the direction that he was traveling and immediately took off after him. Emi's eyes followed the waves left by Jackson's speedy swimming and saw what he was headed for; circular ripples left on the surface of the water by something large that had fallen off a yacht moored downriver. Conner dove into the water right next to the centre of the ripples and the wake of Jackson's swimming disappeared.

Emi jumped back towards the deck. She would have landed on her feet if Tim hadn't chosen that moment to come on deck. She tried to change her direction but just ended up landing on his back instead of on his head or shoulders. She fell on her rear in front of the door while Tim turned his fall forward into a graceful summersault. "What's going on?" Delilah pointed to the water where Conner and Jackson had vanished. With everyone looking away from her, Emi took the opportunity to scramble to her feet.

The riverbanks hadn't yet had the chance to fill up after the battle so there wasn't anyone around to gawk when Conner came bursting out of the water carrying a person and was followed by a wave carrying Jackson. The boys landed on the deck of _Titans Tower._ Delilah immediately stepped forwards to cut the ropes that were tied tightly around the ankles and lower legs of the young woman Conner was carrying. Cassie checked for a pulse. "She's alive," they said in unison.

"What happened to her?" Tim asked Conner and Jackson.

"She jumped." The woman began coughing. The last drops of water in her lungs sprayed from her lips. Her eyes fluttered open. When she spoke her voice was rough.

"Who are you?"

They all looked at each other. Then everyone looked at Tim. Tim looked the woman straight in the eye and said, "The Teen Titans." The woman's forehead wrinkled. She opened her mouth. Closed it.

"Who am I?"

* * *

The mystery woman was sitting at the kitchen table with a mug of tea between her palms. Steam was streaming onto her face and she didn't notice when Tim pulled Delilah out of the room. Cassie raised an eyebrow but didn't move from her spot leaning against the counter.

Delilah followed Tim to the 'war room', a room with two walls of computer screens and a round table in the centre of it. "What is it, Tim?"

"I need a second opinion." He tapped a key and both screens lit up. Delilah's eyes traced over the images on them. "I ran a facial recognition scan and searched for fingerprints. What do you think?"

Delilah looked over the images again, the school photos, the mug shots, the frames of security footage, and stopped at a photo from a week old newspaper article. "I think that we should call Wonder Woman." Tim also looked at the newspaper clipping. The face of the Amazon princess smiled out at them.

"That's exactly what I was thinking."

* * *

"Your name is Donna."

The Teen Titans had scattered. Tim was in the war room, Emi was headed back to Seattle with Gar and Miguel, who said something about bringing back donuts, Jackson was answering a call from Aquaman, and everyone else was either going into the city or training in the ship's gym. Everyone except for Cassie, who had been in the kitchen when Wonder Woman arrived and just stayed put when no one told her to leave.

"You were my sister, made from my reflection to be my playmate when I was a child."

 _Wonder Woman_ was sitting in their kitchen talking to the woman that Conner had pulled out of the Hudson River after she tried to drown herself. She was telling her that she used to be a reflection.

That was tame for a Sunday night.

Cassie looked at the clock on the microwave. Monday morning. That was tame for a Monday morning.

"You went to the library one morning and never came back." Wonder Woman looked down into her tea. A tear ran down her cheek. "We found your body in the Memory Centre."

"I'm sorry." Wonder Woman smiled sadly. She was younger than her and she wasn't carrying the leather bag that she'd always had slung over her shoulder when they were kids, but the woman across from her was clearly her Donna.

"It was not your fault." Donna put her face in her hands.

"How do I not remember any of that?"

"Your memories were taken. If you wish you can have them given back."

"I… I want them." Donna looked up at the princess. "I don't know why I tried to kill myself or who I was before I ended up here but I do know that if I am an Amazon, your sister, I want to remember it." Wonder Woman's smile brightened.

"We can leave now."

"Come back here after." The two Amazons looked at Cassie, who had been so quiet that they'd forgotten she was in the room. Cassie was studying Donna with a look of interest. "I have a feeling you'd make a good Teen Titan."

* * *

 _Breathing Underwater_ \- Metric


	10. Blackest Night (Before)

DISCLAIMER: Some dialog (marked with a *) in the fifth section of this chapter comes from the _Teen Titans_ section of _Blackest Night: Black Lantern Corps, Vol. 1._ It was written by J.T. Krul, not me.

* * *

Blackest Night

(Before)

 _From: Wallflower_

 _To: WonderGirl II , Raven , Speedy II , Troia , Miss Martian , Dove II , Hawk II_

 _Subject: Pre-Heroes' Day girls' night_

 _Hi girls,_

 _Since almost all of us are going to be in town for the "celebrations" would anyone like to get out of the Tower for a few hours and just go watch a movie or something? You know, do something normal before... There's a new_ Ice Age _out. Reply if you'd like to go._

 _-Wallflower_

* * *

 _From: WonderGirl II_

 _To: Wallflower_

 _Subject: Re: Pre-Heroes' Day girls' night_

 _Just one last thing, do you think I could stay at your place during the week? I don't want to be in the Tower alone. SB's OK with it._

 _-WGII_

 _From: Wallflower_

 _To: WonderGirl II_

 _Subject: Re: Pre-Heroes' Day girls' night_

 _Of course you can. My brother won't be home and my mum won't mind. I know what you mean about the Tower._

 _-Wallflower_

 _From: WonderGirl II_

 _To: Wallflower_

 _Subject: Re: Pre-Heroes' Day girls' night_

 _Thanks._

 _-WGII_

 _From: Wallflower_

 _To: WonderGirl II_

 _Subject: Re: Pre-Heroes' Day girls' night_

 _Any time._

 _-Wallflower_

* * *

Of course they weren't able to do normal. When they arrived at the theater, Delilah, Cassie, Raven, M'gann, Dawn, and Holly, a little kid standing in the lobby immediately recognized Cassie. "Mommy, look! It's Wonder Girl!" All eyes turned in the direction the boy was pointing.

 _-Why do I suddenly feel like this was a bad idea?-_ Holly rolled her eyes at Delilah.

A crowd of people surged towards them. "Are you really Wonder Girl?" one teenager asked.

"Uh…"

"Sometimes," Holly jumped in. "Right now she's just a girl going to the movies with her friends." She looked over the crowd. "And our movie is starting right now. Bye!" Before any of the people could figure out what had happened the six girls had gone through the path that Holly had scouted and entered the theater. Cassie collapsed into her seat.

"Sorry about that," she murmured. Dawn shook her head.

"And we wonder why you don't go out much."

"Let's just enjoy the movie," M'gann said before Cassie could argue that she did go out thank-you-very-much.

The lights went out, the screen lit up, and for an hour and a half they could just care about dinosaurs and a squirrel that was completely nuts. Delilah felt herself relaxing as the laughter of little kids rang out at every on-screen antic. By the time the movie was over even Raven had a smile on her face.

They left the theater as a group with Delilah and Cassie walking invisibly in the centre. After a few blocks they flew back to Titans Tower, where it took Cassie only a few seconds to grab her bag and get back outside so that she and Delilah could leave for Delilah's place.

When Delilah opened the apartment door the first thing she saw was the back side of the canvas on the easel that was set up in the sliver of space between the kitchen and the living room. Her mum leaned sideways so that she could see who had opened the door. "Hello, Delilah." She put down the knife she had picked up. "How was your day?"

 _"Good,"_ Delilah signed. Cassie followed her inside and closed the door behind them. _"Mum, this is my friend Cassie. She needs a place to stay for a few days and since David won't be home I said she could stay here."_ Her mum raised her eyebrows. She had never met any of her daughter's American friends before. She only knew that they existed because Delilah was out with them so often, which made her a bit worried but she knew her daughter could take care of herself. Still…

 _"You're certain it's safe?"_

 _"Yes, Mum."_ Delilah nodded as she replied.

 _"That's fine then."_ She wheeled herself out from behind the canvas. "Hello, Cassie."

"Hello, Ms. An."

"Please, call me Tinashe, or Ms. Krusen if you have to," Tinashe said with a flinch at being called by the name of her ex-husband. She tilted her head as she looked at the blond girl. "Have we met?"

"No, Ms. Krusen, but you might have seen me…on TV." Tinashe was silent for a moment while Cassie's words sank in.

"You're a Teen Titan, aren't you? Wonder Girl?" Cassie nodded. Tinashe gave her blushing daughter the look that said they were going to be having a very long conversation. "When did you and Delilah meet?"

"A few years ago."

 _"Mum, I'm going to take Cassie to put her stuff in my room,"_ Delilah signed slowly so that Cassie would be able to understand what she was saying. She didn't want to accidentally start talking in her mum's head so it was better to stick to sign language.

"Alright." Tinashe turned her wheelchair to go back to her painting. "Remember that it's your turn to make dinner tonight." Delilah nodded and gestured for Cassie to follow her.

 _-You can sleep in here.-_ Delilah opened the door to her bedroom. _-I'll take my brother's room.-_ Cassie looked around the darkened room, from the dresser on one side to the bed on the other. _–I know it's small…-_

"Don't apologize." Cassie put her bag at the foot of the bed. "Thank you for letting me stay here."

 _-You're welcome. Want to help with dinner?-_

"Do you remember that time I burnt water?" Delilah grinned.

 _-That was one time. You're a good cook, when things don't spontaneously combust.-_

She gave Cassie the easy job of making a salad to go with the macaroni and cheese she was going to make. Tinashe kept looking around her canvas to see what was going on in the kitchen and every time she went back to work with a smile or a look of amusement on her face.

After dinner Cassie got ready for bed while Delilah went to set up the sofa bed that her mum slept on. When she got out of the bathroom Ms. Krusan was waiting for her. "Do you need anything, Cassie? There are towels in the cupboard."

"Thank you, Ms. Krusan." Tinashe rolled back so that Cassie could pass.

"Cassie." She looked back. Ms. Krusan was sitting straight up in her chair with a look in her eyes that would make Deathstroke pause. "Delilah's father tore her heart out when he left. If that happened now I can only imagine what the consequences would be." She turned her chair around and headed back to the living room. "Goodnight, Cassie."

Cassie was standing frozen in the hallway when Delilah turned the corner. She saw the looked on her face and her heart beat frantically. _–What's wrong?-_

There were plenty of ways that Cassie could have been more concise, but what ended up coming out of her mouth was, "Your mom knows," which didn't tell Delilah much.

 _-Knows what?-_

That Delilah was also a Teen Titan? That the two of them had a complicated relationship that was the result of being more than friendly sometimes?

"Everything. She knows everything."

Delilah sighed.

 _-That's my mum.-_

* * *

While Delilah was drying the breakfast dishes a key clicked in the lock. She put away the last bowl and went to her room just as the door opened. Her brother was too excited, and sleep deprived, to notice her leaving. He had a wide grin on his face as he locked the door and dropped his bag on the floor. "Morning, Mum."

"You missed breakfast," she said without looking up from her newspaper. "And dinner." Danial went into the kitchen and began looking through cupboards.

"We had a breakthrough at the lab, I had to stay late. I forgot to call, sorry."

"You always stay late." She turned the page. "Oh, that's cute." David glanced over her shoulder. His grin turned into a scowl as he looked at the page. His eyes jumped from the picture in one corner to the main article title across the top.

"This is exactly what we're trying to stop. Is Delilah here? I want to tell her about it." Tinashe finally looked up at him.

"Isn't it classified?"

"Well—" There was a loud thump that came from Delilah's dresser bumping against the wall, like it did almost every time she got out of bed. "In her room. Thanks!" David kissed his mum's forehead and walked out of the room, whistling a little tune. Tinashe watched him leave.

"Oh dear."

Davie knocked on his sister's door. When she didn't open it, he knocked again. No answer. He felt his heart rate speed up. When he knocked for a third time and there was no answer he opened the door a rushed in. "Delilah!" The two girls pressed up against the back wall broke apart. Delilah smiled sheepishly. "What are you doing?" Everyone in an apartment on their floor looked up from whatever they were doing with surprise. That couldn't be David An yelling like that, could it?

Delilah's smile turned into a scowl. _"You're home,"_ she signed. _"Did you get fired?"_

"You, you…" David's face was turning red. Cassie tilted her head, looking up at him.

"You're David?" She looked at Delilah. "He's taller than I thought he would be."

"You're gay!"

 _"Bisexual."_ Delilah glared at her bother. _"And you don't get to judge me, damn your colleagues."_

"You're my sister."

 _"And? You haven't been much of a brother lately."_

"You can't be gay," he spared Cassie a contemptuous glance, "You can't be dating a metahuman!"

Delilah stopped holding herself back. She took the three swift steps it took to cross the room and pointed into her brother's face. _–You don't get to tell me what I should or shouldn't do!_ You're _trying to kill all metahumans!-_

David stumbled back gripping his head with both hands. Cassie massaged her temple. Somewhere on the other side of the globe, Red Robin shook his head and went back to grappling with gangster #2.

"How did you-? We're not-"

 _-That project you're working on, the one on Level 7? Red Robin's been tracking it for years, since Captain Cold and his sister broke in to steal the research. Figuring out how to turn off the metagene is one thing, that could actually help people, but killing everyone with powers? Check your calculations, because if you didn't mean to do that then someone screwed up.-_

Delilah picked up the bag by the door and pushed past David. David didn't even notice Cassie leaving the room. "Where are you going?"

 _-Titans Tower.-_ David followed her out of the side hallway, protesting, but she didn't pay him any attention until she reached the door. Then she turned around a looked him in the eye. _–Call me when you decide that losing your sister isn't worth the pay raise.-_ David watched, dumbstruck, as she left the apartment and closed the door softly behind her.

"Mum…" Tinashe turned to the next page of the newspaper.

"Yes, David?"

"Did you know?"

"Of course I did, I'm your mother. Are you going to have breakfast before you go back to work?" David nodded and went to grab a bowl from the cupboard. He poured his cereal into it, and wrinkled his nose when he smelled that it was getting stale.

"Mum, could you leave the paper for me when you're done with it? I want to know what I've been missing."

"But you'll be going back to work after?" Tinashe guessed. David nodded.

"I need to check some calculations."

* * *

 _-Thank you for helping me with that. And making sure I wouldn't put a tornado through the building.-_

"You're welcome." Cassie opened the door at the bottom of the stair well and they stepped out into a narrow street at the back of the building. "What do you want to do now?"

 _-We have a few hours, enough time to drop our stuff at the Tower and go to Gotham to see if we can get Tim to come.-_

"You know he won't."

 _-Sit around the Tower waiting for a metahuman attack.-_ Cassie bit her lip. _-Or fly somewhere people don't know you by sight and take a day off.-_

"I like that idea. Do you think anyone will mind?"

 _-I doubt it. Have you ever been to Toronto?-_

After a blissful afternoon spent wandering through museums and running through the PATH having to go back to the Hero Day "celebrations" was more depressing that it should have been. Neither Cassie nor Delilah would have changed what they did though. Getting out of the city for a few hours was a lot better than sitting in the Tower all day.

Wallflower was looking up at Osiris's statue when Starfire approached her. _–Do you remember that stupid little crocodile? I should have let Persuader kill him.-_ Starfire put a hand on her shoulder.

"He fooled all of us."

 _-Osiris was a good guy. He didn't deserve to die like that, eaten by his best friend.-_ Wallflower laughed silently and smoothed her mask to stop herself from crying.

"No one does, Wallflower. It's getting late. You should try to get some sleep."

 _-I will. I'm going to check on Beast Boy first.-_ Beast Boy had gone outside half an hour ago and hadn't come back yet. Starfire nodded.

"I'll see you in the morning."

 _-Goodnight.-_

Starfire left the Hall of Heroes and Wallflower took one last look at Osiris's statue before doing the same. She left the Tower and headed towards where she could sense Beast Boy. As she turned the corner she saw Beast Boy with his back to her, kissing a girl she couldn't fully see. Just as she was about to turn away to give them privacy, invisible or not watching didn't feel right, the girl tilted her head, revealing dirty blond hair and cracked, rotting skin pulling away from the skull beneath.

Wallflower felt her heartbeat increase. With growing up in Teucer and her experiences as a Teen Titan she knew danger when she saw it. The dead-looking girl screamed danger.

 _–Beast Boy! Gar!-_ Beast Boy stepped back with a shake of his head. Why was Wallflower there?

"Gar, is something wrong?" Terra asked, full of concern.

"I…I don't know."

 _-Gar, that isn't Terra.-_ Beast Boy looked around. Great, Wallflower was invisible. What was she talking about? This was totally… He turned around and found himself staring into Terra's shriveled eyes. He jumped back.

 **FEAR. LOVE.**

"I just want your heart, Gar," Terra said sweetly. **"There's nothing wrong with that."**

Her hand shot forwards, but before it could touch him a tornado sprang up under her feet and tossed her into the ocean. His hair whipped around his ears and he felt Wallflower land beside him. "What was that?"

 _-Not Terra.-_ Wallflower blinked, trying to get rid of the buzzing that was building up behind her eyes. _–A zombie…thing. Not Terra.-_

"We should tell—" The ground shook under them and Beast Boy stumbled forward. A figure rose from the water and the earthquake strengthened. Not-Terra's face was pulled into a snarl as she directed the tremors. Titans Tower groaned.

 _-Danger! Danger!-_ was all Wallflower was able to think. Beast Boy heard her; he turned into a cockroach. In the Tower, Cassie, who'd woken up after the quake started shaking the building with more force than Superman, opened the line on her communicator and began shouting into it.

Red Robin would have thought that it was his own internal voice screaming at him if he didn't automatically tune out that voice when he was in costume. Superboy shook his head and muttered "No duh," as he punched Kal-L in the face.

Wallflower flew out towards Not-Terra, who was definitely not Terra since Terra couldn't fly, and knocked her out of the sky just as the Tower gave one final groan.

A cloud of dust rose into the air. When it cleared the sad remains of Titans Tower cut out of the ground like a pile of broken tombstones.

Wallflower coughed out half a lung of water as she crawled up beside Beast Boy, who was back in his green human form. They stared at the wreckage. _–Cassie's alive, but I don't know about the others.-_

"We have to get them out!"

They were distracted by noises coming from the trees, and then another zombie thing tumbled towards them. A starbolt followed it and the robe it was wearing went up in flames. Beast Boy gawped. Was that Omen? Wallflower nudged him.

 _–I think we have other problems.-_

"How can you say that?"

 _-Terra's back.-_

Gar spun around and saw Terra, or whatever the zombie thing was, flying towards them. He froze, and Wallflower sank up to her neck in sand.

He turned into an elephant.

Then Starfire blew past him and collided with Terra midair. "I never liked you, Terra, so this will be easy for me." *

The Terra-zombie went up in flames. Starfire flew to the ground and pulled Wallflower out of the sand. The she looked at Beast Boy.

"I'm sorry, Gar."

Beast Boy shook his head at Starfire. "Don't be. That thing, whatever it was, wasn't Terra."

 _-And that definitely isn't Omen,-_ Wallflower squeaked.

Beast Boy and Starfire put their heads on swivels and stared as Not-Omen finished reforming her body out of a charred husk.

 _-Why won't these things stay dead?-_

Wallflower and Starfire nearly collided with Cyborg as they went to try to kill the zombie thing for good. Beast Boy moved to follow them, but was held back by the strong fingers digging into his elephant ankle. He turned into a ferret and slipped free.

 **"Get back here you little weasel!"** * Not-Terra shrieked.

"Ferret actually,"* Beast Boy muttered as he scampered over the mounds of earth that rose out of the ground.

Cyborg and Starfire were brought to their knees by Not-Omen almost immediately. They stared blankly with little smiles on their faces, completely immersed in the illusion that Not-Omen had created. Wallflower felt Not-Omen trying to break into her mind as well, but the few months of keeping Captain Marvel Junior's and Osiris's gods out of her head meant that Not-Omen had no chance of succeeding.

 **"What's wrong with you?"** Not-Omen mocked after her attempt to create an illusion for Wallflower failed. **"I guess you don't have a mind, huh? You can't think."**

 **RAGE. FEAR.**

 _'Wrong person,'_ Wallflower thought as she flew forwards and punched Not-Omen in the face. _'You're the one that doesn't have a mind. You can't think.'_ She couldn't say anything to Not-Omen for just that reason.

 _-Cyborg, Starfire, snap out of it!-_

 **"Oh stop it,"** Not-Omen snapped. " **They can't hear you. Their minds are mine and they're happy."**

 **RAGE.**

Wallflower gathered up everything she had and hit Not-Omen as hard as she could.

 _-GET OUT OF THEIR HEADS!-_

Not-Omen tumbled backwards, physically and mentally beaten to a pulp. Wallflower fell forwards, exhausted, just as Cyborg and Starfire came back into reality.

"What? Richard?" Starfire asked, looking around.

Cyborg clenched his fist. "The metal, the circuitry buzzing in my brain…This is what I have to call my reality."

Wallflower felt someone coming up behind her and tensed. Then she relaxed when she sensed that it was Wonder Girl.

 _-Are the others alive?-_

"Of course. A little earthquake can't hurt us."

Wonder Girl grabbed Wallflower's arm and pulled her to her feet. "Get up, Wallflower. This isn't over yet."

 _-Uh huh. Someone better help Gar.-_

Gar needed help.

"You might as well show your true self. This Tara guise isn't working anymore,"* he panted.

Not-Terra laughed as she finally cornered him and smashed him into the ground. Beast Boy reverted back to his human form as she stood over him.

 **"Aw, Gar. Your head is saying no, no, no. But your heart is saying yes, yes, _yes_. You don't know how long I've waited for this. I finally get to _kill_ the Titans!"***

 **"Don't you mean 'we'?"** * a voice asked from the ocean.

The other Titans looked with horror at the giant wave that rose out of the water and the figures that were riding it. Wallflower recognized all of them. Dolphin and Aquagirl, Pantha and Wildebeest, all with grins on their rotting faces. And riding the crest of the wave…no, it couldn't be.

 **" _We_ get to kill the Titans,"** * Tempest continued. **" _TOGETHER."_** *

"Titans, go!" Donna shouted.

Her shout shook the rest of them out of their shock. Kid Flash zoomed over to help Beast Boy, only to not be needed due to Beast Boy turning into a lion and ripping Not-Terra to shreds.

 **"Hey, Wildebeest, want to break a wishbone?"** Pantha asked as she and Wildebeest grabbed Wonder Girl's arms and flew into the sky.

Not-Omen rose again and Wallflower felt her connection with Wonder Girl being cut off as Not-Omen took over her mind. She couldn't do anything about it, she was mentally exhausted.

"Get out of her head, witch," Donna ordered as she snapped Not-Omen's neck. The connection came back.

Then the other things landed.

"Garth? No…not you to," Cyborg said hopelessly as he faced his dead friend.

 **"What did you expect, Vic? We're Titans, we _die_."**

 **"And then you bury us in the backyard like dogs** ," Aquagirl snapped, coming at Cyborg from the side.

 **"What about you, cat got your tongue?"** Dolphin asked as she knocked Wallflower to the ground. **"I was like you, quiet, shy, but at least I could scream."**

Wallflower held up her hands and concentrated hurricane-force winds blew Dolphin backwards, past Starfire and Beast Boy, who were fighting with Pantha and Wildebeest, respectively.

Dolphin caught herself and flew back towards Wallflower.

 **"I'll bet no-one would miss you if you died, poor girl. No-one would care. How does that make you feel?"**

 **RAGE. WILL.**

She knew that wasn't true. Her family would care. Superboy and Red Robin would care. Wonder Girl would care.

 **WILL. RAGE. LOVE.**

 **"Love?"** Dolphin laughed. **"Wonder Girl doesn't love you and, even if she did, remember what got me killed? _Loving Garth_. I wasn't even a real Titan!"**

 _'Shut up.'_

Wallflower punched Dolphin, but there wasn't as much power behind it as there usually would have been.

"They're not real!" Donna cried from somewhere by the collapsed Tower. "Listen everyone; _these aren't the people we love_! They're not real! They're not real…"

 **"I feel plenty real!"** a man yelled.

Wonder Girl yelled and Wallflower turned just in time to see her brought to the ground by the old Hawk. Dove crashed next to her, brought down by her sister.

Hawk was dead.

 **RAGE.**

 **"That's what we want!"**

Dolphin grabbed Wallflower around the waist and flew towards the ocean. Wallflower fought but was unable to get free of Dolphin's stony grip.

They plunged into the water with a splash. For the second time that day water filled Wallflower's nose and mouth. Dolphin held her under, unable to let go while the girl was still trying to get free.

Wallflower felt someone, no, not someone, another one of the zombie things, grab her arms. Dolphin grinned. She let go of Wallflower and plunged her hand into her chest.

Wallflower gasped, letting out the last air she had. Ribbons of blood filled the water as Dolphin tore out her heart.

 **POWER LEVELS 0.02%.**

 **DELILAH AN OF EARTH, RISE!**

* * *

Delilah stood on the steps of a marble temple. She looked into it, confused. She was sure that she had just been fighting some zombie thing that looked like a dead Titan. What was her name? Dolphin. What was she doing here?

It was cold. She rubbed her hands together and realized both that she wasn't in costume and that she had somehow managed to lose the prosthetic half of her left hand that held her last three fingers. She really didn't like that. Being without her prosthetic made her feel like Superboy-Prime had won something.

Also, Cyborg was going to kill her for losing it.

"Don't just stand there, girl," a woman's voice said from inside the temple. "Come in."

Delilah hesitated.

"Now!" the woman ordered.

Delilah hurried inside. The walls of the temple were lined with torches that caused the three waist high pillars at its centre to cast eerie shadows. An iron key on a chain lay on top of one pillar and a gold bracelet rested on another. A tall woman with dark hair was standing behind the third pillar. She looked at Delilah with sharp blue eyes.

"Give me my ring."

"Pardon?"

Delilah blinked and put her hands around her throat. Had she just _talked_?

"Why am I here?" she tried asking. She jumped when the words came out of her mouth. "Who are you?"

"I am Hecate." The woman, the goddess, came closer to Delilah. "You died. You must give your power back to me before you can pass on. Give me my ring."

"No." Deliah shook her head. "No, I have to help my friends. They're under attack. Let me help them, please. You're a goddess."

Hecate looked at her. "You would rather fight the Black Lanterns than pass on? You would rather go back and help your friends?"

"Yes!"

Hecate closed her eyes. "I can send you back, but in return I would have you serve me."

"For how long?"

"As long as I wish."

Delilah and the goddess of magic looked at each other.

"Done. Send me back."

"As you wish."

* * *

"First Conner, now me," Black Lantern Wallflower grinned as she took Wonder Girl by the throat. "You just have awful luck."

"You're not Delilah," Wonder Girl choked out. Black Lantern Wallflower rolled her sunken eyes and tightened her grip.

Around them the battled ranged on. Every living hero and Lantern was engaged in the fight against the Black Lanterns. Some of them were ganged up on, two or three Black Lanterns against one of the living. No-one was able to help them except for Dove, and she couldn't be everywhere at once.

Wonder Girl's vision was beginning to go black when Black Lantern Wallflower suddenly let go of her throat. Wonder Girl gasped and took in as much air as she could before going back on the offensive.

 _-Cassie, stop! It's me, it's Delilah.-_

Wonder Girl's fist paused briefly in midair. "You may have finally figured out how to use her powers, but you're still not her."

Delilah winced as Wonder Girl's punch broke her nose. It didn't hurt and it quickly knitted back together since her body was a Black Lantern, but it was still unnerving.

 _'Oh, right, I'm a Black Lantern.'_

Delilah used her ring to push Wonder Girl off her and then formed two hands that ripped another nearby Black Lantern to pieces. If it was a normal Lantern ring of any kind she would not have been able to use it so quickly, but it was a Black Lantern ring and she was dead so the word 'normal' didn't qualify.

When did it ever?

Wonder Girl watched with wide eyes as the Black Lantern turned on its comrades. She blinked and then flew to help the other living heroes. If Black Lantern Wallflower was attacking other Black Lanterns then maybe Delilah actually was back. If not then at least their numbers were being thinned.

Delilah didn't know how long she fought for. Black Lanterns kept coming back, so she kept tearing them apart. She thought she saw Superboy once, and Kid Flash, but in a blink they were gone. She could only see outlines anyway. Outlines of people filled with colours, or Black Lanterns outlined white on the blackness of everything else.

Then there came a burning white light. It was the first and only thing Delilah had felt since Hecate had sent her back into her body that actually hurt. The light emanated from many points, tearing through her painfully.

 _-It's the White Lanterns,-_ the goddess told her. _–It's time to go, Delilah.-_

 _-Just one more minute,-_ Delilah said. She closed her eyes and reached for Wonder Girl's mind.

 _-I love you, Cassie,-_ she whispered. _–Goodbye.-_

The white light strengthened and she was gone.

* * *

 _Save The World (Tonight)_ \- Swedish House Mafia

* * *

A/n: Yes, I just killed my main character. You have some time to process that, because I haven't got a word of the next chapter written. Not a word.

You can thank Nerdfighter1309 for this chapter. They're the one who said "Hey, remember that story that you haven't updated for months?" or something along those lines.

-Cynder2013


	11. Blackest Night (After) Part 1 of 2

Blackest Night

(After)

Part 1 of 2

"No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher's dirty looks!"

"We've still got a week of school left," Delilah reminded Conner with a roll of her eyes. "Put a lid on the enthusiasm."

Conner grinned. "Hey, you survived to the end of grade twelve. I think you're allowed to be enthusiastic."

"Not yet."

"You're gonna get out of here."

"Not yet."

"You are such a downer."

Delilah smiled dryly. "Yup."

"Come on, you're moving to New York next year and you're not excited even a little?"

"Well, it will be just as dangerous there as it is here," Delilah started. Then she paused. If they had been pretty much anywhere other than Teucer she would have stopped walking and turned to face Conner head on.

"You're trying to distract me, aren't you?" she accused. "I've told you, I'm fine."

Her ex-boyfriend had been shot and killed, but she was just fine.

Really.

"It's only been a week—"

"I. AM. FINE." Delilah lowered her voice to say, "And if you say anything otherwise I will find a spell that makes you speak only Kryptonian until I reverse it."

"Well, I do need to practice."

Delilah gave Conner a shove. He retaliated, causing her to stumble onto the lawn of the house they were passing.

"You kids! Get off my lawn!"

* * *

"Raven, I hate your brother," Beast Boy grumbled. "He couldn't have picked a different night to invade?"

"You can watch your shows online, Gar," Wonder Girl snapped. "Don't be an idiot."

"That's not what I meant."

"You and Donna can hold the fort," Red Robin told Skitter. "Use the teleportation spells Zatara gave us if we call for back up."Skitter nodded.

"He was summoned, Gar," White Canary reminded him. "He didn't decide to invade."

"I hope we're not too late," Aqualad muttered.

Bunker nodded in agreement.

When Raven teleported them to her brother's location they landed in the middle of what would commonly be referred to as a huge mess.

"You're late!" Abomination, Superboy's Teucer alter ego, shouted at them as he flew over their heads carrying a scrawny teenage boy by the back of his shirt. "Distract him would you?"

While the Teen Titians began their attack on the son of Trigon, Abomination dropped Cardin next to Constantine and left it to the thoroughly pissed off unwilling teacher to order his student to stay put. Then he flew up and punched Raven's brother in one of his six glowing yellow eyes.

"Surround him," Constantine ordered as the red demon swiped at Abomination with his foot long claws.

He looked quickly at Wallflower. "Is the old man coming?"

"No," Wallflower said. "We can handle it."

"I bloody well hope so," Constantine muttered.

He raised his hands and started the banishment. Cardin shakily followed his lead, in English no less, and then Wallflower jumped in, half a beat behind due to her backwards magic but quickly catching up. A web of yellow light stretched between their hands, encircling the son of Trigon as they spoke in unison.

"Desruc nomed, esaec ot evieced namuh serutaerc," Wallflower said confidently.

She had lied about Zatara not helping. He was currently channelling his voice through her, adding his power to the exorcism.

"vade, maledicte, contremisce et effuge," Constantine continued.

He flinched slightly as the son of Trigon backhanded one of the kid costumes (what was his name?), Bunker thorough the wall of the elementary school. The town was lucky that Cardin had decided to be his old idiotic self on a Friday night. They didn't even know which son of Trigon he'd summoned.

Cardin, who was stuttering as he intoned, "We invoke by us the sacred and terrible name—"

The son of Trigon struck.

Shaking off Abomination and Beast Boy and completely ignoring the attacks from Wonder Girl, Red Robin, and White Canary, he drove his hand into the ground, spearing Wallflower through the heart with one of his claws. The son of Trigon apparently didn't count as anything that could be thrown at them, because Wallflower's jacket didn't do anything to stop him. He grinned as the spell weakened and as easily as a human squashing a bug flicked his fingers and sent Wallflower tumbling streets away towards the church steeple.

Abomination roared. In one move he flew up, punched the son of Trigon in the jaw, breaking it, and flew after Wallflower's falling body. White Canary let out a yelp that didn't stop her from firing two arrows into the son of Trigon's lowest two eyes.

Cardin's eyes widened. He'd seen people die before, but not like that. His shock caused him to yell the last line, "—of the son of Trigon at which those down below tremble!" and the broken web strengthened tenfold.

The web of light wrapped around the son of Trigon, burning him like Wonder Girl's lasso did. It tightened and the son of Trigon yelled soundlessly. The light brightened and the web turned into a vortex that sucked him away.

Constantine looked at Cardin and chuckled tensely.

"Kid, you're more powerful than I though. When this is over, you're grounded."

* * *

Abomination caught Wallflower just before she hit the ground. Her neck was twisted at an unnatural angle and her eyes stared sightlessly at the back of the church.

Abomination squeezed his eyes shut. "Del…"

She had no heartbeat. She wasn't breathing.

To Abomination's ears, Cardin's shout rang out loudly and the snap of the completed exorcism echoed. After hearing Constantine's offhand comments, Abomination allowed himself to shed a few tears before preparing to fly Wallflower's body back to their friends.

She moved.

Abomination's eyes shot open just as Wallflower whispered, **"Esiugsid fles,"** and then, "Kon?" blearily. Her eyelids fluttered.

 **HOPE. WILL. COMPASSION. LOVE.**

"Delilah!"

Abomination didn't move, too afraid of jostling her and making her injuries worse.

Using his TK, Abomination opened a line through his earpiece to Red Robin. "Delilah's alive! Bring Zatara. We're behind the church."

"We're on our way," Red Robin said quickly.

"Kon?"

"Hey, I'm here. It'll be alright, okay? Just hold on."

 **COMPASSION.**

Wallflower put her hand on Abomination's arm and slowly moved it over his heart. Her ring was cold even through her gloves and his coat.

"Okay."

Her hand went limp as her breath became shallow. Then her fingers curled and she shoved her hand into his chest.

A bright white light flared and Wallflower was thrown from Abomination's arms. When he'd blinked away the spots in his vision, Abomination saw her standing several feet in front of him with a wicked snarl on her face.

The illusion she had been wearing peeled away, revealing rotting grey skin and shrivelled eyes. The ring on her hand wasn't the silver and blue ring that she had worn under her gloves but a heavy black ring featuring a triangle with bars coming out of one of its sides. The same symbol had replaced the mandrake flower on her jacket. It became visible when she spun around and took to the sky seconds before the other Teen Titans arrived, sans Raven.

"Zatara's in a coma," Wonder Girl started to say, but then she stopped as her eyes followed Wallflower's flight. "What is that? Where's Wallflower?"

Abomination pointed at the black and grey figure disappearing to the south. Wonder Girl immediately flew into the sky and gave chase. Abomination hurried after her. Neither of them waited to see if the other Titans were following them. They knew that they were.

"Be careful, everyone," Abomination said slowly. "I think she just tried to kill me."

"You're telling us that now?" Wonder Girl exclaimed.

She threw the Silent Armor's burning lariat and it covered the space left between her and Wallflower.

"Don't!" Abomination shouted, but he was too late.

The life-draining lasso wrapped around Wallflower, jerking her to a stop.

Wallflower looked down at the glowing lasso pinning her arms to her sides and laughed. **"Parwnu eht ossal dna dnes ti kcab,"** she said.

The lasso unwrapped itself from around her and went flying back towards Wonder Girl, who just barely missed getting hit in the eye by the end of it.

Then Wallflower, looking no worse for wear than she already had been, intoned, **"Ekam em elbisivni,"** and vanished from sight.

Since she didn't have a heartbeat anymore even Abomination wasn't able to track where she was. Something Abomination did hear though was the buzzing of Red Robin's cell phone as it received a call. He tried not to listen in but he was sure he heard Batman's voice before Red Robin hung up.

"This is happening in Gotham to," Red Robin said sombrely. "The dead are coming back to life."

"Do you think that Wallflower's headed there?" Beast Boy asked as he wheeled around Red Robin's head as a red tailed hawk.

"Maybe," Red Robin said.

"Don't you have trackers on all of us or something?" White Canary asked him sarcastically.

"Maybe."

White Canary gave Red Robin a sidelong glance from her spot next to him on Bunker's floating platform of bricks. "You do, don't you?"

"Yes," everyone except for Aqualad replied.

"Then _track_ her!"

 **"No need for that,"** Wallflower said as she grabbed Wonder Girl from behind and whisked her away from the other Titans.

 **FEAR.**

 **"Oh Cassie, I know you never liked me much, so this is going to be easy for me."**

White Canary screamed. She was the youngest Titan so she could be forgiven for freaking out when she saw her teammate's heart get ripped out by an invisible hand.

 **POWER LEVELS 0.02%**.

Wonder Girl's body tumbled towards the ground.

 **CASSANDRA SANDSMARK OF EARTH, RISE!**

* * *

"I'm not burning my friends!"

Batman scowled and shoved the flamethrower he was holding out into Beast Boy's arms. "Then you'll die."

"Delilah did talk about being cremated," Abomination said flatly as he helped White Canary shrug on the pack of her flamethrower. After he finished, Red Robin grabbed his arm and pulled him to a corner of the Bat weapons locker they were currently in.

"I'm not going to ask you if you're okay—"

"Good."

"—but can you handle this?"

Abomination and Red Robin looked at each other through the lenses on their masks.

"I have to."

"Time to move out," Batman ordered. "You kids stay behind me."

None of the Titans argued with him, though Aqualad had to shoot White Canary a Look to stop her from opening her mouth.

They made it barely ten feet from the weapons locker when the Black Lanterns swooped down on them.

"Black Lanterns," was what Earth's Lanterns, Green and Red, had called them. The League alerts they had sent all said that the dead were rising because of black power rings and they were working on in. Guy Gardener had added to his, "Please try not to die," which was so very encouraging of him.

 **"Nice toys,** ** _dad_** **,"** said Robin, who had died the year before. **"You'd never have let me play with those."**

 **LOVE.**

Robin grinned and dove towards them, reaching for Batman's heart.

Batman burned him.

Flames engulfed the reanimated corpse of Robin and Batman didn't take his finger off the trigger until the black ring clinked on the asphalt.

 **"Well, that wasn't nice,"** Wallflower said.

Wonder Girl cracked her knuckles. **"Finally something we agree on."**

White Canary leveled her flamethrower on them. "St-stay back," she ordered, grimacing at herself as soon as she stuttered.

 **FEAR. RAGE. WILL.**

Wonder Girl tilted her head. **"You know, I don't think we will. Wallflower?"**

 **"Our best friends want us to stay away from them?"** Wallflower shook her head. **"What's wrong with this picture? Oh, wait.** **Ekam em elbisivni."**

She vanished. Wonder Girl took this as her cue to create a version of her lasso with her Black Lantern Ring and begin attacking the Titans. Meanwhile, Robin's burnt husk reformed and the Black Lantern launched his own attack on the Dark Knight.

The group of heroes got split up fairly quickly. Wonder Girl herded White Canary, Bunker, and Aqualad down the street while Robin and Batman battled among the rooftops. Abomination and Red Robin were both grabbed by Wallflower by their necks and flown off while Beast Boy flapped after them.

Wallflower dropped the two boys on the flat roof of an apartment building. Both of them landed on their feet, gasping.

 **"Yats no eht foor,"** she ordered. **"I have a little birdie to take care of."**

They stayed on the roof, but that didn't mean they didn't fight. Robin embedded four birdarangs in Wallflower's torso before she decided that she may as well deal with him before hunting down the flea-sized Beast Boy. Of course, at that moment Beast Boy took his African crowned eagle form and tore her head from her neck.

 **FEAR.**

"I didn't mean to do that!" Beast Boy shouted as he flew frantically from Wallflower's hunting body and became a speck in the sky.

Exit, pursued by headless corpse.

"Do you know how long this spell's going to last?" Red Robin asked Abomination.

"No. That's not Delilah anymore. I don't know how powerful a Black Lantern magician is."

Wallflower could have unlimited power, she certainly hadn't paid for any of the magic she had done since she became a Black Lantern, and without Raven or Zatara they couldn't do anything about it.

 _"Very powerful,"_ a woman's voice whispered.

Abomination and Red Robin spun around.

Standing on the roof was a woman about Abomination's height dressed all in white with the hood of her cloak pulled far up over her head. Red Robin immediately noticed that the three last fingers of her left hand were missing and that the lights of the Gotham skyline were shining through her like she was made of tissue paper.

 _"But so is mine."_

The woman pointed at them with her mangled hand and spoke works in a language that neither of them understood. Abomination felt the snapping in the air that signaled the power of one of Wallflower's spells breaking. He sighed and the woman turned her face towards him.

 _"Why do you think I came here, Conner?"_ she asked him.

"Who are you?" Abomination shot back. "How do you know my name?"

It was the woman's turn to sigh.

 _"We were family once. You won't remember. And don't say you've never met me. That'd be a waste of time."_

Neither of them said that they'd never met her, though they were both sure they hadn't, but Red Robin opened his mouth to repeat Abomination's first question, "Who are you?"

 _"Someone who can help you. You can call me…Trivia."_

Red Robin and Abomination looked at each other.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Red Robin asked.

 _"Isn't a ghost better than a flesh-eating super powered zombie?"_

Was that a trick question? Abomination shrugged and Red Robin nodded slightly.

 _"Exactly. And I have a plan. Let's go find your friends."_

* * *

Trivia was not an easy ghost to keep track of.

Flying across the city, the lights below made her almost invisible. A few times she had to fly back to Abomination and Red Robin to lead them in the right direction when they lost sight of her. Despite that they made good time and it wasn't long before they saw the tongues of flame from Batman's flamethrowers.

The three Black Lanterns had regrouped. Wallflower's head had been reattached, her hands were covered with blood, and Beast Boy was nowhere in sight, which was a bad sign. Robin and Batman were still fighting with Batman now being backed by White Canary.

Trivia motioned for them to stop just as Wonder Girl lassoed Bunker and yanked him off his floating brick platform, which broke apart and hit Aqualad in the head.

 _"On second thought, help the team,"_ Trivia ordered. _"I'll take care of the Black Lanterns."_

Red Robin had dropped his flamethrower when he'd gotten half strangled by Wallflower. In lieu of fire he used the edges of his glider to smash Robin's head and give White Canary a chance to burn him. Abomination hesitated for a split second before pushing his mask up and letting loose with his heat vision, rather carefully.

While the boys joined the battle, Trivia floated down and looked between Wallflower and Wonder Girl. She could do this the easy way, or the less easy way. Sending a quick prayer to Hecate and any other gods who cared enough to be paying attention to Earth, she chose the less easy way.

Wonder Girl's black light constructs of armor and lasso dissolved when Trivia possessed the Black Lantern. Bunker and Aqualad looked confused when Wonder Girl turned on Wallflower, tackling her to the ground and plunging a hand into her chest. It didn't help that Aqualad was seeing double.

Everyone saw Wonder Girl's eyes glowing white as she spoke words none of them could understand. Trivia put as much power into the spell as she could and the white light burned brighter, eventually growing so strong that everyone had to look away and close their eyes.

The Black Lantern rings burned.

Abomination was the first one able to turn back when the light started fading. He saw Wonder Girl and Wallflower laying on the asphalt looking like themselves again, no rotting flesh, no sunken eyes, no black and silver costumes. A breeze whispered past his ear and then he heard their hearts beating.

They were alive.

"What just happened?" Aqualad asked.

"I don't know," Bunker replied.

Red Robin landed beside Batman, who was holding the scrap of cape that he'd torn from Robin during their fight and looking at the place where the Black Lantern version of his son had turned to dust. Red Robin put a hand on his mentor's arm and Batman looked down at him.

"It's time for your team to go home," Batman said gruffly.

Red Robin looked around at his teammates. Bunker was apologizing to Aqualad for conking him in the head and Abomination and White Canary were dropping to the ground to tend to Wonder Girl and Wallflower. The absence of Beast Boy left a gaping hole in the scene.

Three of the eight Titans who'd been fighting the Son of Trigon had died. Red Robin almost didn't want to see what had happened back at _Titans Tower_.

"Titans," Red Robin called, "time to head back to the ship."

* * *

A lot had happened at _Titans Tower_.

And in New York in general.

Abomination heard the hundreds of alarms that were going off in the city from miles away. The other Titans heard them a few seconds before the New York skyline was visible from the direction they were flying in from. The giant fiery dragon that was destroying a building, Papa Midnite's building, not that any of the teens knew that, was also pretty easy to spot.

White Canary swore loudly in Japanese.

Red Robin looked grimly at the city. "Keep going to the ship, Bunker," he ordered.

Bunker, who had stopped his brick platform when he saw the dragon, looked over at Red Robin.

"Are you sure?"

"Without Raven and Wallflower we can't do anything about _that_ ," Abomination interjected. "Manhatten's got Papa Midnite and gargoyles and stuff. It'll be fine."

Red Robin nodded like he completely understood what Abomination had said and Bunker followed his order, dropping them right on the deck of _Titians Tower_. The ship had a few new scrapes but was otherwise undamaged.

Abomination and Aqualad hurried Wonder Girl and Wallflower below decks to the infirmary and Red Robin ordered White Canary to call Green Arrow to tell him that she was alright. He then went over to Bunker, who was standing at the ship's prow.

"How are you?"

Bunker forced a smile. "I'm just super now, _hermano_. Can't make any promises for later."

"You know it's okay to cry?"

Bunker was saved from responding by Aqualad yelling that Donna needed Red Robin's help. He stayed looking over the river while Red Robin hurried to the infirmary.

Donna was sitting in a chair that had been brought from the kitchen, having been vacated from one of the two beds in the room when Wonder Girl and Wallflower were brought in, holding a bandage to her neck that smelt strongly of vinegar. Her face was tearstained and Celine was standing over her, looking worried.

"We're out of hydrogen peroxide," Celine explained when she saw Red Robin looking at the makeshift antiseptic cloth.

"What happened?" Red Robin asked.

Celine hesitated. "Donna's…son."

"Son?" Red Robin, Aqualad and Abomination exclaimed.

A fresh tear ran down Donna's cheek. "My baby…"

Abomination stopped pacing. "Seivvic," he said, changing his costume back into the pajama pants he'd forgotten he was wearing so that he could look at Donna and be absolutely sure his mask wasn't interfering. It was still a mask, even if it was magic.

Conner's eyes widened and his gaze flicked from Donna's neck to each of her hands and back again. "Rob…Donna…Black Lantern…" he opened and closed his mouth a few times before just pointing at Donna's neck.

Donna mutely removed the bandage when Red Robin asked her to, revealing a small bite that looked like it had been made by a baby surrounded by grey skin and branching black veins. He quickly pieced together that Donna's son had become a Black Lantern and come after her, giving her the bite in the process. Celine confirmed his theory and the infirmary became marginally emptier as Red Robin went for a computer to get full League information on the Black Lanterns, Donna went to her room with Celine following after her, and Aqualad went to the kitchen to get ice for his head.

Conner claimed Donna's vacated chair and settled in to wait for Wallflower and Wonder Girl to wake up.

If they woke up.

He told his brain to shut up.

About ten minutes later, Emi joined him. She didn't say a word, just lurked in a corner playing with a broken arrow until first Wonder Girl and then Wallflower showed signs of waking up.

Wonder Girl turned her head and blinked awake as her cheek brushed the pillow. Wallflower breathed in sharply and her eyes shot open as a spell died on her lips. They both placed a hand over their heart and, since their costumes had emerged unscathed from the entire mess, were clearly surprised by the lack of blood and punctures and/or demon claws.

"How are you feeling?" Emi asked tentatively. She put the broken arrow in the back pocket of her jeans and moved closer to the beds.

Wallflower sat up slowly while Wonder Girl tried to roll right out of bed and ended up propping herself up against the wall before sitting down hard on the edge of the mattress.

"Dizzy," Wonder Girl muttered.

"Cold," Wallflower added. Conner immediately sat down beside her and gave her a hug while Emi tugged at the blanket Wonder Girl was sitting on top of and wrapped it around Wonder Girl's shoulders when she finally got it free.

"We're on _Titians Tower_?" Wonder Girl asked.

Emi nodded. "In New York."

"What happened?" Wallflower asked.

Conner and Emi looked at each other. Slowly they began telling their teammates what had happened with the Son of Trigon and the Black Lanterns, and the assumed death of Beast Boy. The only thing that was left out, by Conner since Emi didn't know about it, was the involvement of the ghost, Trivia.

Wallflower and Wonder Girl listened quietly. When Conner and Emi were finished talking they didn't say anything. Eventually Wallflower broke the silence.

"I want to go home."

* * *

Of course they couldn't leave right away. First there was a full Justice Leagues/ Teen Titans/ Batclan/ Lantern Corpses video conference call that confirmed both that there had been Black Lanterns all over the world and that they had all turned to dust when Trivia had done her supernova thing. That took quite a few hours. Then Emi rounded everyone up for a late lunch/ super late breakfast, Raven checked in to say that Zatara had woken up, Papa Midnite dropped by with a few voodoo zombies and somehow had a civilized conversation with the Titans, and Delilah appeared to fully heal Donna's neck with a brush of her fingers.

Then they left.

At Zatara's house, Zatara was making dinner, Cardin was shrinking in a corner trying not to be seen, Constantine was being his usual charming self and Raven was keeping an eye on everything and making sure nothing blew up.

Conner and Delilah walked through Zatara's house and went next door. Conner rang the bell and Delilah's brother answered the door with a knife in one hand and a Millwall brick in the other. He looked like he was going to hit Conner with the blunt force weapon made of a rolled up newspaper despite him not being a real threat.

"Where have you been? Get inside."

Delilah pushed Conner inside and David threw the door shut behind them, shooting all three deadbolts before shouting, "Mum, she's here!"

From the kitchen doorway, Tinashe held up her pointer finger in a "wait a minute" motion and spoke into the cordless phone she was holding.

"Forget it, she's back. No thanks to you... _You_ can go to hell."

"Dad," David muttered to Delilah.

Delilah swore under her breath and for a moment she and David were totally united in hatred and disgust towards their father. Conner had met the guy and had not liked him, which was pretty much the only reason he and David got along.

Tinashe hung up the phone and, as a form of greeting, repeated David's question, "Where have you been?" and then added "Why are you in your pajamas?"

Delilah tugged at the hem of Conner's Superman hoodie, which she was wearing over her uncommonly skimpy pajama top.

"It's a long story and I promise I'll tell you tomorrow, but it's been a long…" she frowned and turned to Conner. "How long has it been?"

"Twelve hours," Conner told her. "Give or take."

"Right." She turned back to her family. "A long twelve hours and I would really like to just have dinner and go to sleep, please?"

David and Tinashe looked at each other.

"Please," Delilah repeated, sounding especially tired. "I promise I'll tell you everything tomorrow."

Well, Tim wouldn't be happy about that. Neither would Cassie.

"Fine," Tinashe said at last. "Will you be staying for dinner, Conner?"

"What!" David exclaimed. "Mum!"

"No thank you, Ms. Krusan. Mr. Z will want me home," Conner apologized. "I'll be over in the morning?"

"Yes please," Delilah replied. "You should probably go before David decides to try breaking your skull."

David did look like he was rapidly transitioning from confused and annoyed to angry. Conner gave Delilah a quick kiss on the cheek before darting out the door.

Delilah looked at her calm mum and fuming brother.

"So, what's for dinner?"

* * *

Constantine sat down on the couch next to Conner and rested his feet on the beat up coffee table.

"Raven's leaving," he told the boy. "She seems to have decided that Cardin and I won't destroy the entire town."

"She told me," Conner said flatly. "I've said goodbye. Why aren't you leaving?"

Constantine sighed. "Zatara wants me on call. You have super hearing, how don't you know that?"

Conner shrugged. Constantine followed his line of sight to the opposite wall up to where the wall met the ceiling. He was pretty sure that a stray cobweb was not what was holding Conner's attention. He was also sure that what was holding it was a pretty girl that Conner was clearly worried about.

"You know, scrying spells are one thing but if you're right next door to the person you're watching you might as well just go over," he commented, "unless they want to kill you."

Conner turned at looked at Constantine. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Constantine chuckled. "Look, kid, I'll cover for you. I could use a smoke right now."

Constantine got up and headed towards the back door. Conner rolled his eyes up to the ceiling.

"She's going to kill me," he muttered, before following the British mage.

Delilah stopped pacing when she heard the knock at her bedroom window. Grabbing her switchblade from under her pillow and mentally reversing words in case she needed a spell, she pulled back the curtain.

She sighed.

"You have got to be kidding."

Hovering outside, still surrounded by the white light that Delilah had seen around him since she'd come back to life, was Conner. He gave a lopsided smile and shrugged awkwardly. Delilah shook her head and unlocked her window after she made sure that her door was still closed.

"Get inside," she ordered.

He did, and she shoved the knife back under her pillow and locked the window before hissing, "You know, just because we have the distraction spells doesn't mean you have to test them."

"I was worried about you."

"I'm fine."

"I can hear your heartbeat," Conner reminded her. "You're lying."

"I'm lying," Delilah agreed.

She sat down hard on her bed. "I'm terrified."

Conner sat down next to her. "You have a funny way of showing it."

"Ha ha."

She stood up and jabbed her palm with a pin to cast a muffling charm on the door and walls. Then, taking a deep breath, she held up her left hand and reversed the glamour that she had cast on it. Her last three fingers turned grey and black veins snaked across the back of her hand.

Conner stared.

He blinked.

He stared.

"How?"

Delilah turned her hand back and forth. "When I was healing Donna it just…moved. Or got absorbed or something. So yes, I'm terrified. I killed Cassie, I killed _Gar_. I don't want to become a Black Lantern again."

Conner shook his head. "You won't. It's, it's probably like an after effect or, or," he trailed off.

Delilah sat back down and put her face in her hands. "They're going to be back."

She squeezed her eyes shut. "I know it, Cassie knows it. They're not done with Earth yet."

"How—" Conner started to ask.

"I don't want to talk about it," Delilah interrupted. "Tomorrow, I promise."

She was saying that a lot.

"We won't talk about it," Conner promised.

He took her hand. She rested her head on his shoulder. They sat in silence, listening to the uncommon quiet of the night. Unexplainable damage to two neutral properties was enough to keep the Jokerz and the Kings down for a few hours at least, long enough for them to get the odd full night's sleep.

Delilah yawned.

"Do you want me to go?" Conner asked.

"No."

Delilah took Conner's glasses off his face and placed them on her bedside table. "Stay?"

Conner nodded. "Yeah."

Zatara would be mad and David would be absolutely livid. Conner didn't really care.

"Let's try to get some sleep, okay?"

Delilah yawned again. "Okay," she agreed.

About ten seconds later they were both fast asleep.

Tinashe didn't look at all surprised when Delilah and Conner came downstairs together. She just said, "Good morning. We're out of milk," and went back to reading the newspaper.

David definitely noticed that Conner hadn't come in the front door, but he hadn't had his coffee yet and Conner wasn't on his list of people that are life-threatening, so he settled for giving him a glare that Batman would have approved of.

Delilah's stomach was in knots. She took two apples from the fruit bowl on the counter, washing them before tossing one to Conner.

"So, Delilah," Tinashe said when the two teenagers had sat down, "what were you going to tell us?"

David suddenly looked up out of his half empty coffee cup, wild eyed. "You're not pregnant, are you?"

"No!" Delilah exclaimed. "I'm…I'm…"

She looked around and whispered a spell to check for anyone who could be eavesdropping. It came up clear.

"I'm Wallflower."

To be continued…

* * *

A/N: This chapter is split into two parts because it would be really, really long otherwise. I can't say when I'll get the second part up since I have a lot of short stories that I have to finish.

The demon banishment spell comes from "Constantine: The Hellblazer #1" from June 2015. It is edited for the different styles of magic and specific demon.

-Cynder2013


	12. Blackest Night (After) Part 2 of 2

Blackest Night

(After)

Part 2 of 2

 _"No!" Delilah exclaimed. "I'm…I'm…"_

 _She looked around and whispered a spell to check for anyone who could be eavesdropping. It came up clear._

 _"I'm Wallflower."_

"You're joking," David laughed uncomfortably.

He looked at Conner. "This is a joke, right?"

Conner shook his head and took a bite of his apple. David looked back at Delilah, projecting a faint red light that was growing stronger by the second.

"You're Wallflower. You've been flying around putting yourself in danger—"

"Making our home safer," Delilah interrupted.

She took a bite of her apple, trying to look unconcerned, and frowned at the taste. Swallowing, she began rummaging through the cupboards as David tried to calm himself down.

He wasn't doing very well, but it's the thought that counts.

David looked at Conner. "You knew about this," he said.

Conner nodded absentmindedly. He was more concerned with watching Delilah sprinkle her apple with salt and red food colouring. David and Tinashe were both looking at him so they didn't notice that potential problem.

"You're the other vigilante, aren't you?" David asked Conner. "Abomination. He showed up the same time you did."

"I might be."

Tinashe sighed. "You have been doing a good job, but I'm not happy about you putting yourselves in danger."

She shook her head. "I'm sure Mr. Z wouldn't approve either."

Delilah paused in eating her doctored apple. Conner looked at her and raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was going to sell out Zatara. She did promise to tell David and Tinashe _everything_.

"He probably wouldn't," Delilah said. "He doesn't know."

She looked sideways at Conner. He nodded slightly. It was her family. He wouldn't be correcting her.

Delilah finished her apple in about ten more seconds and went to join the other three at the table. She rubbed her left hand as she continued to tell her mum and brother about what had happened since her magic had emerged. She carefully edited out Zatara's involvement, for some reason turning him into someone called Hecate, and didn't mention that Conner was also Superboy.

"Last night Cardin summoned a demon," Delilah said. "The Teen Titans were fighting it while I was helping to banish it and…it killed me."

She looked down and studied the pattern of scratches on the table. Conner wrapped his arm around her reassuringly.

"It _what_?" David exclaimed.

He jumped out of his seat, looking like he was ready to follow the son of Trigon to whatever hellish dimension he came from and beat him to a pulp for daring to harm his sister, never mind the fact that Delilah was sitting perfectly alive in front of him. Tinasha was staring at her daughter with tears rolling down her cheeks.

To Delilah's eyes the entire room was filled with red light. (And a sliver of violet, but that didn't make much difference.)

 **RAGE.**

Delilah screamed and clutched her head, reflexively pushing back against the jagged roar bubbling inside it until it had shrunk down to a pinprick in the corner of her mind. Her first thought after she was able to think again was that she loved magic, which was almost scarier than wanting to tear out her brother's heart.

Conner held Delilah's shoulders and looked her straight in the eye. "Del, are you okay?"

"You're putting yourself in danger if I was possessed," Delilah murmured.

Conner's heart crawled out of his throat as he laughed. "I'm pretty sure you have at least three fail-safes to stop that from happening."

"Four," Delilah chuckled. "For that I've got four."

"Would someone please tell me what just happened?" David asked, holding his own head. "Or don't. I feel like my head's going to explode," he added.

"David, if I knew exactly what was going on I'd tell you," Delilah said seriously.

Her eyes flicked back towards Conner's face and didn't move a millimetre as she continued to speak.

"After I died a black power ring took control of my body. As a Black Lantern I tried to kill all my friends…and succeeded twice. Wonder Girl was brought back to life when I was but Beast Boy," she choked. "Beast Boy is dead. Mum, David, I want you to stay with Mr. Z until this is all over. The Black Lanterns will be back and his house will be safer than ours."

"Why?" David asked. "Why would it…Oh. He's a mage too, isn't he?"

"It's not my place to say," Delilah replied evasively.

David took that as confirmation.

"Where are you planning to be?" Tinashe asked.

"With the Titans," Delilah said fiercely. "And we're going to be fighting, because that's what we do."

Tinashe wiped away the new tears that were threatening to fall. "My daughter, I am so proud of you."

* * *

Cassie slammed her fist down on the table, causing cracks to radiate from the point of impact and splitting the table into about two dozen pieces.

"For the last time, Tim," she shouted. "WE DON'T KNOW!"

Raven sighed and repaired the shattered war room table with a wave of her hand. After he'd found out that Cassie and Delilah somehow knew things about the Black Lantern plans, Tim had spent almost an hour trying to find out everything they knew and how they knew it.

They didn't know how they knew it, which was way Cassie decided to yell at him.

There was a loud thump as Jackson's head hit the newly repaired table. Then it hit the table again. And again. If the Atlantean hadn't be more durable than a normal human he would have given himself a concussion.

"Why are we still here?" he asked, hitting the table with his forehead with every word. "I know Batman's probably been listening to everything that's been said since we got here but that that doesn't mean we can slack off."

"We need to prepare," Celine agreed. "We could be hit at any minute."

"Not until tomorrow," Delilah said.

She put her head down on the table. "And, no, I don't know how I know that."

"Trivia," Conner said.

Both the seeming randomness of his statement and the fact that Conner hadn't said a word during the entire meeting saw everyone turning to look at him, even Tim, who knew exactly what he was talking about.

"You're sure?" Tim asked Conner.

Conner shrugged. "It's the only thing that makes sense. You were really hoping it was something else, weren't you?"

Tim nodded. "I don't trust her."

The other Titans were watching the conversation like it was a tennis match.

"Does anyone know what they're talking about?" Jackson asked at last.

Everyone else shook their head, except for Delilah, who was frowning as she attempted to remember _something_ that was flying just out of her reach, and Cassie, who had her 'thinking hard' look on her face.

"Trivia," Cassie repeated slowly. "She's the Roman goddess of magic. Her Greek form is Hecate."

"Hecate!" Delilah exclaimed loudly, causing everyone to turn and look at her. "I've met her!"

Then she frowned. "I mean, I remember meeting her but I know I haven't. I've never met her."

"Trivia must have," Conner said.

He quickly began telling the rest of the team how a ghost, Trivia, had destroyed the Black Lantern rings after appearing to him and Tim.

"I think that she must have left some of her memories behind when she brought you back to life," he said, looking from Cassie to Delilah.

Cassie and Delilah looked at each other.

"Makes sense," Cassie said.

"It was a really big spell," Delilah agreed. " _Zatara_ would have had a hard time keeping himself together, and he's alive."

"I would have had difficulty with it," Raven admitted.

"I think that Trivia lived through a Black Lantern attack before," Tim said. "Or died during one. Either way, she knows what's going to happen."

"Even though this has never happened before?" Celine asked with severe disbelief.

Jackson held up one hand and began counting off on his fingers, "Parallel universe, universal mind-wipe, universal reset, other options that you should know about because you're the scientist."

Celine sighed. "Point taken."

"So, what do we do?" Emi asked. "If this Trivia person can't be trusted than how can we know what she remembers is real?"

"It's real," Delilah said. "I'm sure of it."

Cassie nodded in agreement.

"We'll share what we can with the Justice League," Tim decided, "and make our own preparations. As of now we're ahead of these monsters, let's try to keep it that way."

* * *

"Get down!" Raven shouted.

All of the Titans that hadn't already been knocked down dropped to the street. As soon as they were out of harm's way, Raven let loose streams of fire that turned the swarm of Black Lanterns hounding them into cinders. They had gotten, what, a day to prepare? Less? It was no wonder they were getting chewed up and spit out, metaphorically of course. Thankfully, none of the Teen Titans had died yet.

"Does anyone know where we are?" Wallflower asked after Wonder Girl and Superboy used some of Raven's brief respite to free her from super strong synthetic webbing that a trick arrow from one of the Black Lanterns had trussed her in.

It only felt like they had been chased across half the United States. When Red Robin checked his GPS he told them that they were in Gateway City in California, so really they'd been chased across the _entire_ United States.

Bunker spat blood on the ground. "Well, at least there isn't anyone outside."

Their foreknowledge, courtesy of Trivia, had civilians hiding in bunkers and bank vaults, anywhere where it would be too much of a bother for Black Lanterns to try to get at them when there were emotional superheroes running around.

"At least," White Canary grumbled.

She gestured towards the dozen piles of ashes that were rebuilding themselves into charred corpses. "Anyone else feel like throwing them into an active volcano and seeing what happens?"

Skitter hissed in agreement. Donna sighed as she retrieved her sword.

Aqualad raised his hand. "I don't do lava well, I'm just pointing that out."

"We need more white light," Wallflower muttered. _"Dnes eht sgnir otni eht nus."_

The swarm of Black Lantern rings that had been flying in from behind Wonder Girl vanished. Wallflower flexed the fingers of her left hand and gritted her teeth.

"The uglies are back!" Bunker warned as he punched the most fully reformed Black Lantern with a purple brick fist.

"What did you say about white light?" Red Robin asked Wallflower.

Wallflower shook her head. "I'm getting really tired of saying this, but I don't know."

White Canary squinted into the distance. "How many people did you know who died during this 'culling' exactly?"

"Too many," Superboy said at once. "Why…oh."

He'd looked in the same direction as White Canary and seen clearly that two more Black Lanterns were headed their way. He looked more closely and recognized the face of the smaller one.

"Oh no."

"What?" Wallflower asked as she dodged an attack from wolf-shaped Beast Boy.

"More Black Lanterns incoming," White Canary warned.

Superboy hit four of the Black Lanterns they were currently fighting with his heat vision. He turned to do the same to the newcomers only to find that they had already landed and taken Wallflower and Wonder Girl out of the fight.

"James?" Wallflower whispered.

 **FEAR. COMPASSION. LOVE. RAGE.**

"Dad?" Wonder Girl choked out. "You're dead?"

 **FEAR. RAGE. LOVE.**

 **"I promised you I'd come back, sweetheart,"** Wonder Girl's dad said softly. **"I promised I would come back for you. I saw a chance and I took it."**

"You're not like the others?" Wonder Girl asked.

 **HOPE.**

Her dad shook his head. A slow smile spread over her face and a tear ran down her cheek.

"Like I'm going to believe that."

She lashed out and tore her father's head from his shoulders.

"Raven!"

A wave of flames from the daughter of Trigon washed over the corrupted corpse of Lennox Sandsmark, burning it to ashes. Wonder Girl gulped down the sobs that wanted to burst from her chest.

"Dad."

"James," Wallflower whispered again.

She stared uncomprehendingly at the Black Lantern in front of her. "You can't be here."

James smiled that crooked smile that every girl at school had loved. **"Why not, sweetheart? Oh, did this just become too personal for you?"**

"James I...I…"

 **"You did this."**

James spread his arms wide. **"This is all your fault. I would never have joined up if it weren't for you. I loved you, and you let me die."**

Tears were running down Wallflower's face. She couldn't speak. It w _as_ her fault. She had been right there, right in the middle of the firefight, when he was killed and she had done nothing.

James stepped towards her. She made no move to stop him, and her teammates had their own Black Lanterns to fight. They had gotten spread out again. That wasn't good.

James stepped closer. **"You killed me."**

"My…my fault," she choked out. "Sorry…so…so sorry."

 **COMPASSION.**

 **"Oh no,"** James shook his head, **"You can't apologize. You have to pay for what you did."**

His hand flew towards her heart.

"NO!" Wonder Girl shouted.

She was the closest to Wallflower. She ran as fast as she could and jumped between her and the Black Lantern.

James screamed.

 **CONNECTION SEVERED.**

Wonder Girl gasped, staring at the pile of dust that had been James and his Black Lantern ring. It showed no sign of reforming and was quickly blown away by the wind.

"White light," Wallflower croaked from where she'd fallen behind Wonder Girl, both pushed out of the way and collapsed in pain after Wonder Girl has started burning with the white light of life. "You saved me."

"What are friends for?" Wonder Girl gasped.

Wallflower laughed.

"Are you alright?" Donna shouted.

"Fine!" Wonder Girl called back.

"What's going on?" Aqualad exclaimed as the Black Lantern he was fighting suddenly flew away.

"I don't know," White Canary said as the Black Lantern archer, Artemis, abandoned their fight without even loosening the arrow she had nocked.

"Wonder Girl, Wallflower, incoming!" Red Robin warned.

Skitter hissed questioningly.

"They must sense that Wonder Girl is the real threat," Donna speculated.

Wonder Girl scowled at the Black Lanterns flying at her. "You want our fear, our love? Come and get it!"

The Black Lanterns dove towards her. Wonder Girl let out a yell and burning white light burst from her heart. The nearest Black Lanterns turned to dust immediately while the ones that had yet to reach her, a group of four that included Artemis and Beast Boy, were just skimmed by the light before they screamed and flew away as fast as they could.

Wonder Girl fell to her hands and knees. Superboy landed beside her and Wallflower helped him get her to her feet.

"Thanks," Wonder Girl gasped.

"No problem," Wallflower said, squinting at her. "I guess you can't turn the light down?"

"What light?" Donna asked, jumping to the street from the roof of a corner store. "It's disappeared."

"Are you alright, Wallflower?" Aqualad asked, joining them with the rest of the team.

"I'm fine," Wallflower said quickly, looking away from Wonder Girl so her retinas wouldn't burn any more. "Let's worry about the Black Lanterns; there are still more of them out there."

"I need to get to the front lines," Wonder Girl agreed.

"The front lines? Look at yourself!" White Canary protested. "You can barely stand up."

Skitter hissed at Wallflower.

"I said I'm fine!" Wallflower snapped.

"No, she's right, you're not," Bunker said. "You've _never_ yelled at Skitter before, hermana."

Wallflower opened and closed her mouth before muttering, "Eurt fles," and letting the black veins and grey skin creeping up the left side of her neck speak for themselves.

Bunker swore impressively in Spanish for a good minute.

"That's a problem," White Canary squeaked.

"Understatement," Aqualad said. "Understatement of the year."

Superboy didn't say anything. He just stared at Wallflower with a look that clearly displayed his annoyance that she hadn't told him that the Black Lantern taint had gotten worse.

"You can see like them," Raven said.

Wallflower nodded, even though Raven's words had been a statement, not a question. "Superboy has white light around him too, just not as much as Wonder Girl."

"Wonder Girl, Superboy, you're on point," Red Robin ordered, "but no unnecessary risks."

"I'm staying with them," Wallflower said. "If this gets any worse," she gestured to her neck with her free hand, "we don't need another Black Lantern to deal with."

Superboy wanted to argue but he knew that they didn't have time. "Where are we going?" he asked instead.

"I talked to Batman," Red Robin said. "The front lines are in Coast City."

* * *

There actually weren't any obvious front lines, so Raven teleported them into the middle of the battle.

It was a really big battle.

In the middle of it all was the Black Lantern Central Power Battery, towering darkly over the battlefield.

Along with all the superheroes who had managed to stay alive, there were supervillains, magic users, old gods and Lanterns fighting alongside each other against the Black Lanterns.

There were a lot of Lanterns.

Look, there was the blue blur that was the Flash wielding a Blue Lantern ring. Wonder Woman was brandishing a Star Sapphire ring alongside her sword. Lex Luthor had constructed a giant suit of robotic armor with his Orange Lantern ring. Yikes, Scarecrow was a Yellow Lantern, like he wasn't terrifying enough. Though that was probably why he was chosen…Oh dear. Was that Supergirl with a Red Lantern ring? That was going to cause problems if they all survived this.

And Superman was a Black Lantern. That was causing problems _now_.

"Remember that these aren't the people we knew," Red Robin said. "Hit them with everything you've got."

They did.

Despite trying to stick together, the Teen Titans soon got split up. Wallflower found herself fighting alongside Papa Midnite and his zombies against Hawkman and four mages, Sargon the Sorcerer (three of them, including the one that was leading the Cult of the Cold Flame) and Mister E.

"You're still alive," Midnite said, sounding surprised.

He swung his machete and cleaved Sargon #1's body in half before setting his zombies on him and turning to face Hawkman.

"Trying," Wallflower replied. "Nrub meht."

Sargon #2 burst into flames while only Sargon #3's head was set alight. Wallflower blinked, trying in vain to get her eyesight back to normal as the dead feeling of the Black Lantern taint overwhelmed her left eye.

"And in about an hour you won't be," Midnite commented, battling machete against mace with the undead Hawkman.

Wallflower flew up and kicked Mister E towards the burning Sargon #2. "Guess I'd better find Wonder Girl then, huh, Papa?"

Midnite spared her a single glance as he hacked Hawkman's legs off. "It's been nice knowing you. Trade?"

As an answer, Wallflower dodged a spell fired at her by Mister E and flew away with the top half of Hawkman's body, dragging it by the wings. Midnite gave a wry half-smile before uncapping a potion that he poured on as much of Mister E as possible.

"I never liked trench coats much," he told the Black Lantern as he turned to dust.

Hawkman grew his legs back after about fifteen seconds. He swung his fist at Wallflower's face, having lost his mace during his fight with Papa Midnite. Wallflower lost her grip on his wings and Hawkman flew down to harass Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. Apparently being halfway to joining them meant the Black Lanterns were no longer interested in Wallflower. Well, it made it easier for her to burn them to ashes anyway.

Wonder Girl and Superboy had somehow managed to stick together, that or they'd had the infinitesimal chance of running into each other in the total chaos of the battle. Wonder Girl looked on the verge of falling out of the sky but she continued to throw out her lasso, which burned with white light, and disintegrated any Black Lanterns that weren't fast enough to get out of the way.

"You okay?" Superboy yelled as he blasted Black Lantern Martian Manhunter with his heat vision.

"Fine!" Wonder Girl lied.

Another Black Lantern, Superboy wasn't sure who it was, made a grab for Superboy's heart. They were thrown back several feet, right into the path of Wonder Girl's lasso.

By then it was nighttime. When Wonder Girl saw bright lights streaking through the sky she wasn't sure if they were shooting stars or her exhausted brain playing tricks on her.

"More rings!" several members of the various Lantern Corps shouted, verbalizing what their own rings were telling them.

 _DAMIAN WAYNE OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _GEORGE HARKNESS OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _BOSTON BRAND OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _J'ONN J'ONZZ OF MARS, LIVE!_

 _KATAR HOL OF THANAGAR, LIVE!_

 _JAIMINI SARGENT OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _ARTEMIS CROCK OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _HANK HALL OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _KAL-EL OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _SIOBHAN SMYTHE OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _PAMELA LILLIAN ISLEY OF EARTH, LIVE!_

 _DELILAH AN OF EARTH, LIVE!_

Blinding white light made Coast City brighter than day. The Black Lanterns near Robin, Captain Boomerang, Deadman, Martian Manhunter, Hawkman, Sargon #3, Artemis, Hawk, Superman, Silver Banshee, Poison Ivy and Wallflower just weren't fast enough to get away from their former comrades. They were blasted apart by the light the white rings emitted as they claimed their Lanterns.

 _"White Lanterns, to me!"_ Superman bellowed.

The other White Lanterns flew towards Superman. Together the twelve of them fired beams of light from their rings into the heart of the Black Lantern Central Power Battery. The Power Battery began to glow a sickly grey and it started to heat up as the black and white light battled inside it.

 _"Give it more power!"_ Martian Manhunter shouted.

The living combatants continued fighting against the remaining Black Lanterns as the White Lanterns poured as much power as they could into overwhelming the Power Battery. Superman and Silver Banshee even added their heat vision and supersonic wail, respectively. Still the Power Battery endured.

 _"It's still not enough?"_ Poison Ivy exclaimed. _"How?"_

 _"We're missing something,"_ Sargon said, looking around with glowing eyes. _"What are we missing?"_

 _"I know!"_ Walllfower said. She took a deep breath and shouted, _"Wonder Girl, we need you!"_

By some magic or change in wind direction, Wonder Girl heard Wallflower calling for her. She looked at Superboy, Red Robin and Raven, who were fighting against Beast Boy and Bunker, who had been killed by Hawkman before the white rings came.

"We'll be fine," Superboy told her. "Go!"

Wonder Girl instinctively stopped flying right in front of the White Lanterns. Their individual beams of white light bent towards her and merged into a single beam as they passed through her heart. The strong white light hit the heart of the Power Battery and cracks radiated from where it struck.

 _"It's working!"_

The Power Battery exploded in a blast of light and heat. Many, many people screamed all at once.

And then it was silent.

Absolutely silent.

* * *

 _Monsters-_ Ruelle


	13. Brightest Day (Before)

Brightest Day

(Before)

To most people, Valhalla Cemetery was silent at night.

Conner Kent wasn't most people. For him it was far from silent. He knew that he was alone in the cemetery because he didn't hear any human heartbeats, just the faster beats belonging to birds and squirrels. The slight breeze gently ruffling the leaves sounded like crashing waves.

It was quiet, not silent. You couldn't break quiet.

"Hi, Delilah." Conner bent down and placed the bunch of white roses in front of the stone plinth, being careful not to cover either of Delilah's names. "These are from Cassie. I tried to get her to come but…"

He sighed and looked up at the face of Wallflower's statue. If she hadn't been made of metal he could have sworn that she was going to tell him that he was being stupid, no one could make Cassie do anything unless she wanted to, and they should go for a fly to clear his head. She would have a statue when Titians Tower was repaired, like all fallen Titans, but he doubted it was possible to get her right twice. She was signing "fly", as for an airplane, which was the sign she used for their sort of flying. Conner thought that it also made it look like she was directing the air, probably to try to push him over.

"You, Holly, losing you like this…It's just hard on all of us, you know?" He laughed despite himself. "Of course you know. It's nothing new for us, right? And if you were here right now you'd say something like 'It's not always going to feel like this, Conner' or 'It'll get better, Conner, promise', but you're not here."

His voice cracked. "Everything is wrong."

He stared up at the statue, not bothering to wipe away the tears running down his cheeks. It wasn't like there was anyone around to see him crying.

"Cassie and I went to see your family," he choked out, "your mom and your brother. Just going there, telling them you were dead, that's the hardest thing I've ever done. The look on your mom's face…"

He shook his head. "And your friend Osiris…He came back but his family's gone. Cassie tried to get him to stay with us but he left. He came to see you, right? You were his family. _We_ were family."

Conner gave up on trying to talk coherently and just stood in front of the grave crying for several minutes. Eventually he wiped his tears away and turned on his heel to leave the cemetery, not even trying to choke out a goodbye.

On his way towards the gate he passed by Dove and Hawk's graves. He wasn't going to stop, but out of the corner of his eye he saw a white figure crouching in front of Dove's statue. He turned around.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What are you doing?"

The figure stood, holding something tightly in one dirt covered hand. "None of your business," they whispered roughly.

"I think it is," Conner said. "That's my friend's grave."

"Are you a superhero then?" the person, a woman judging by her voice, asked. "Go home. I'm done here anyway."

Conner stepped towards the woman in white. "Not until you put back whatever you took."

The woman's hand tightened around the object she was holding. Conner looked with his x-ray vision and saw that it was some sort of ring, maybe something that a visitor had left as a gift to Dove.

"I need it," she whispered.

"You need to steal from a dead man? Give it back."

The woman stiffened. "I can't do that."

She turned around and pushed back her hood. Conner stumbled backwards when he saw the face that was revealed.

Delilah smiled sadly. "I'm sorry, Conner."

* * *

Valhalla Cemetery was a nice place to be buried.

Delilah had been pretty sure that her grave wouldn't be there. She hadn't been a well-known hero, that was a side effect of being invisible ninety-nine percent of the time, and Valhalla was getting pretty full, so she was surprised when she saw the statue of Wallflower at the head of her grave.

"This is unnerving," she muttered, looking up at her masked face.

"Not as unnerving as hearing your voice somewhere that isn't inside my head," Conner said.

Delilah shrugged. "Properly developed vocal cords seem to come with the job."

"What job? Why…why didn't you tell us you were alive?"

To answer his first question, Delilah opened her hand and allowed him to clearly see the White Lantern ring she had taken from Dan Hall's grave. It matched the one she was wearing in place of Hecate's ring. That one had come from a grave on Mars. She hoped that wasn't going to be a trend. Going to graveyards to collect all twelve rings would be dead depressing.

Ha, ha.

Conner looked at the rings and shook his head. "I thought only Deadman still has one of those."

"Objects this powerful don't just disappear," Delilah said. "These are Hawk's and Martian Manhunter's. And I…I'm not alive Conner."

"But-"

"Can you hear my heartbeat?"

He couldn't.

Delilah tapped the White Lantern ring she was wearing, which pulsed with dim light. "I'm on loan from Hecate. Magic is apparently part of Life."

Conner shook his head. He didn't like magic, but he understood that it was necessary. If Delilah was working for, owned by it sounded like, Hecate, the goddess of magic, well that made him like magic even less.

"Can't you come home?" he asked, not expecting a positive answer.

Delilah blinked rapidly like she was trying not to cry. "I wish I could, Conner. I miss you."

There was a pause after that. A silence between them while they both tried to figure out if the form of "you" she used was meant to be singular or plural, and an exchange of slight nods when they agreed that it didn't matter.

Delilah cracked a small smile. "If I don't finish this mission the world will end. That wouldn't be good for the team's PR."

Conner couldn't stop himself from laughing. Bad PR was something the Teen Titans had dealt with a bit too often.

"Can you come back to the tower when it's over? Will…s _he_ let you?"

"We'll see each other again," Delilah said. "I know it. I'm kind of psychic now."

Conner laughed again. "That's encouraging.

Delilah smiled, but her smile soon turned into a grimace. "This ring is trying to burn my finger off."

"You have to go?" Conner guessed.

Delilah nodded. She hesitated for a second before moving closer to Conner and kissing him twice on the lips.

"Give Cassie a kiss from me," she murmured, "and promise you'll stop her from trying to resurrect me?"

"I promise."

Delilah stepped back and took one last look at her grave. "Thanks for the flowers. They're my favourite."

"I know," Conner said.

White light flowed out of Martian Manhunter's ring, turning the graveyard as bright as day. It swirled around Delilah and then disappeared, taking her with it.

Conner stood at her grave for a little longer, then he turned and left the cemetery.

* * *

 _See You Again_ \- Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth, Furious 7 Soundtrack


	14. Brightest Day (After)

Brightest Day

(After)

The worse part of the Black Lantern invasion was going to the funerals.

There was a new cemetery opened just to bury the heroes who had been killed, they called it Valhalla. It was in Metropolis.

Wallflower officially hated Metropolis.

Bunker and Beast Boy were both buried there. Red Robin was in the middle of preparing to get what was left of Bunker's body sent back to his family when they sent a message to the Teen Titans. They were happy for Miguel to be buried as a hero; all they wanted was to be allowed to come to the United States to attend the funeral. Batman took care of that in about two seconds.

The patch of land that the city had given to the Justice League had been a public park, and still was. Valhalla was right in the centre of the eight hundred and ninety-seven acres of greenery, surrounded by an iron fence but with a gate that during the day was open for anyone who wanted to pay their respects.

Bunker and Beast Boy were buried right next to each other. The funerals had been a few days apart, long enough for mourners to cover the temporary plastic marker on Bunker's grave with all sorts of things. Flowers mostly, but someone had left a folded rainbow flag at the end of his grave and there was a bunch of helium balloons that bobbed distractingly all throughout Beast Boy's funeral.

"There are people out there taking pictures," Wallflower muttered once the funeral was over.

"I know," Superboy grumbled. "Try to ignore them."

The trees groaned in the wind. _–Not Gar, not Gar…-_ they seemed to be saying.

 _MAKE THEM STOP._

Wallflower hated Metropolis.

The last grave that Delilah visited that week wasn't in the tourist trap that was Valhalla. James was buried in the tiny cemetery next to the church, which was the only reason that his headstone hadn't been tipped over and tagged by the Jokerz.

Delilah set the bunch of flowers she was carrying down by the headstone and stared at it for several minutes.

"I'm sorry," she said eventually.

She blinked. A tear rolled down each of her cheeks. Strange, that. She'd have though she would have been out of tears by then.

"So, so sorry."

 _-Not your fault,-_ the wind whispered.

"It's my fault you're dead."

 _-No…-_

"Shut up!" Delilah shouted.

"Del, you okay?" Conner asked from where he was standing by the gate.

"I'm fine!" She was totally fine, just hearing voices, feeling massive crippling guilt, no problems.

Conner came over to her and put his arm around her shoulders. "Come on, let's go home."

They turned away from James's grave. If either of them had looked back they would have seen a foggy spectre flicker into existence above the headstone, floating there for half a second before disappearing.

* * *

Home for Conner had become Delilah's house. David had had to choose between being the overprotective older brother and not having to deal with the entire neighbourhood when they were woken up by Delilah screaming in the middle of the night when her muffling charms finally gave out. He grudgingly chose the latter. It wasn't like their insurance would pay for her to see a therapist.

No one in Teucer could get good insurance. It came with living in gang territory.

"Are you going to patrol tonight?" David asked while he was washing the dishes after dinner.

Delilah looked up from the computer screen. "Come look at this," she said.

David raised his eyebrows.

"No, I'm not going to patrol," Delilah said. "Conner's meeting Red Robin and they're having a guys' night. Come look at this."

David went and looked at what was on the computer screen. "Seriously? How did you even find this?"

"I searched for my name."

David sighed. "Why would you do that?"

Delilah clicked across the page. "Can you believe someone had time to write a forty-nine chapter fanfiction with the world nearly ending every other week? It's not bad writing either. I'm not a big fan of being paired with Batman though. He's like twice my age. _Everyone_ in the Justice League is twice my age."

Her brother shook his head. "This can't be good for you."

"And he's practically Red Robin's dad," Delilah continued, "which is like, _double_ ick. They got the Superman and Wonder Woman thing right though. I'm pretty sure they are together."

She clicked on another tab she had open. "Wallflower's paired with _Cyborg_ in this one, which makes zero sense. Magic and technology don't mix well. People tend to spontaneously combust."

"You have got to stop doing this."

Another tab.

"And this one is a self-insert. It is hilarious. I have got to show Wonder Girl. She's paired with the self-insert ninja warrior."

"Delilah…"

Click.

"The person who wrote this one has never heard of capital letters."

Click.

"In this one I'm Bunker's little sister."

Click.

"I'm paired with the self-insert character in this one. And Superboy. And Red Robin. Well, one out of three's not that bad."

 _MAKE THEM STOP._

David closed the laptop with more force than was strictly necessary. "This is how you're coping, reading bad Teen Titans fanfiction?"

Delilah looked up at him. "This isn't coping, this is distracting. I'm still working on the coping part."

David shook his head. "Isn't there someone you can talk to? Anyone?"

"Black Canary," Delilah murmured. "She sort of offered… I'm going to bed."

She stood and headed upstairs without putting the computer away. David sighed.

"Talk to someone," he called after her. "Please!"

* * *

The muffling charms that Delilah put up were fully capable of handling a bit of crying. Sobbing into her hands for five minutes wasn't the best use of her time, but it was probably better than reading bad fanfiction. At least she would feel better afterwards.

Probably.

Delilah sniffed and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Hi, God?" she whispered. "I know we haven't talked in a while. I haven't talked to You in a while. I guess I thought, with the whole magic thing, You wouldn't like me very much. But Miguel's with You now. He can put in a good word for me, right?"

She laughed and more tears ran down her cheeks. "Why did they have to die? Why am I not dead? I died first. It should have been me. It should have been me!"

She wiped her face again and looked down at her hands. She frowned at the black gunk covering them. That wasn't normal.

She stood up and went to look in the mirror. The same black gunk covered her eyes and cheeks. Those were her tears. Her tears were black.

That wasn't normal.

"Black Lantern," she whispered. "No, no, no, no, nonononononono."

When her phone started ringing she knew who it was before she'd even picked up. There were only two people who had her phone number who would ever actually call her. She tried to calm herself down before answering.

"What's wrong?"

"The parking lot of the elementary school," Red Robin said. "We need back up."

Delilah turned away from her face in the mirror. "On my way."

Wallflower heard and saw the battle between the Jokerz and the Kings at the same time. She was far enough away that she shouldn't have been able to see it. The only reason she could was the fire that was burning through the school.

Wallflower saw red.

 _MAKE THEM STOP._

 _"Tup eht erif tuo,"_ she ordered as soon as she'd flown into range. _"Pots enoyreve ni ecalp!"_

The fire was snuffed out, leaving behind the barely standing burnt shell of half the school building. The fighters froze in place. The eyes of those that had been faced with that particular spell before darted around, looking for her even though there was a ninety percent chance she was invisible.

She was invisible, by the way.

 _"Esaeler Der Nibor dna Noitanimoba."_

Red Robin finished the leap that he had been frozen in. Abomination took flight immediately, just glad that he was able to move.

Wallflower became visible hovering above the burnt out school. _"Kool ta tahw ev'uoy enod!"_ she yelled. "Look at what you've done! Look!"

Heads turned. Every Jokerz and Kings looked at the school where they had all spent ten years of their lives. A woman holding a bloodstained bat actually began to cry.

"Why do you keep fighting?" Wallflower shouted. "You're destroying our home! Territory is meaningless when there's nothing left. With everything you have divided up you shouldn't have to fight, gods help us, if you worked together you could actually do some _good_ for this town."

Wallflower shook her head. "Stop, just stop."

She released them from her spell. There were a dozen cops already present, so it was safe to say that none of the gang members would be getting arrested. All that was left to do was pound them into the dirt so that they wouldn't be causing trouble for at least the next week.

No one moved.

"So, are you guys going to keep fighting or not?" Abomination asked after several minutes of stillness.

"No," one of the Kings men said. He looked at one of the Jokerz women, the one who had started crying when she realized what their fight had done to the school.

"A ceasefire for three days," he said, "and then we'll have a meeting to decide what to do next."

The woman wiped tears off her cheeks with one hand and nodded. "I'll tell Jason."

The man nodded. He looked at his fighters.

"Everyone, go home."

Wallflower and Abomination landed beside Red Robin and they watched as the group of gang members quickly dispersed.

"That was weird," Wallflower started to say, but she was cut off by one of the voices she'd been hearing since the White Lantern ring had brought her back to life.

They really didn't want to shut up.

 _DELILAH AN OF EARTH. YOU HAVE ENABLED THE CREATION OF THE GUARDIANS. MISSION ACCOMPLISHED. LIFE RETURNED._

Wallflower was enveloped in white light that hit her with enough force to knock her off her feet. She couldn't see it, but for a moment her costume turned white. She felt the light burning through her. The whole thing happened so quickly that she didn't have a chance to scream.

When the light disappeared, Wallflower was left reeling. Abomination grabbed her arm.

"Are you okay?" Red Robin asked.

"Better, I think," Wallflower said. "I'm alive now."

"What?" Abomination exclaimed.

He didn't get a chance to say anything else, because the white light was back. This time it came surrounding Deadman, Boston Brand, now that he was alive. He had his fist held up with the White Lantern ring on his finger aimed at Wallflower.

Why Boston was the only one of the twelve brought back who still had his White Lantern ring was a mystery that, as far as anyone who wasn't Boston knew, hadn't been solved yet. Boston, Donna and Boston's teammates, colloquially referred to as the Justice League Dark, had been working on it for weeks.

"Get out of here, kid!" Boston shouted. "I can't control it!"

Wallflower wasn't even able to blink before the ring sent out a blast of light. The light hit her. She disappeared.

"What did you do?" Abomination shouted, the ashes that Wallflower had left behind crumbling through his fingers.

"I don't know," Boston sobbed.

Then he disappeared.

* * *

The first thing Wallflower was aware of was the sunlight. In seconds it had gone from being high midnight to midday. The next thing was that she knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing.

 _"I can feel fires,"_ Superman said. _"Every flame in the world."_

 _"Plants,"_ Poison Ivy said. _"The earth. It's all connected."_

 _"As are the waters,"_ Martian Manhunter added.

 _"And the air,"_ Silver Banshee agreed. Hawkman nodded.

Wallflower didn't have anything to add to that list. She felt lots of _something_ that was all connected together, but she wasn't sure exactly what to call it. Spirit? Consciousness? Ether? Void? Her element had many names.

They were elementals.

She looked up and saw Swamp Thing towering over them, only it couldn't be Swamp Thing, because Swamp Thing had died and not been resurrected.

Also, Not-Swamp Thing had the Black Lantern symbol in the middle of its rotting chest.

 _"We know what we have to do,"_ Hawkman said.

The six elemantals melted into their environment and in a blink they were attacking Not-Swamp Thing aka the Dark Avatar with full force.

Vines created by Poison Ivy wrapped around the Dark Avatar's head and pulled it back until its neck snapped. Its body was set on fire by Superman while Martian Manhunter tore off one of its legs with chains made of water. Wallflower hit the Dark Avatar anywhere she could reach with a bo staff made out of whatever her body was currently made of. By flying around in a circle, Hawkman and Silver Banshee blurred together until they created a tornado that pulled the monster off balance and tore pieces of rotting, blackened plant life off of its body.

Of course, it put itself back together, seemingly without any inconvenience at all.

 _"Are you kidding me?"_ Wallflower complained.

 _"We have to keep it away from the Power Battery,"_ Superman said. _"That's all that matters."_

The Power Battery was a normal sized Lantern Power Battery, only it wasn't any of the colours of the rainbow and it wasn't sitting in a dressing room at an airplane hangar or something like that. This Power Battery was white and it was trapped in the trunk of a tree. The tree was in a mature forest that had sprung up in about two seconds the week before. The forest was in Gotham City, because of course it was.

The elementals continued battling the Dark Avatar until the voice they had all been hearing said, _YOU HAVE GIVEN US TIME, ELEMENTALS. NOW WE NEED YOU FOR WHAT COMES NEXT._

Everyone who was watching, Boston Brand, Donna Troy and Supergirl, thankfully sans Red Lantern ring, saw the six elementals turn into formless streams of their elements that circled around them and the tree holding the White Lantern Power Battery before diving into the ground under the tree. The tree split open, releasing the Power Battery and firing the elementals at the Dark Avatar's face, along with a beam of white light.

 _BOSTON BRAND, WE REQUIRE THE LAST PIECE._

Boston held out the hand that his White Lantern ring was on. "Go," he told the ring.

The ring flew off of his hand and joined with the beam of white light, giving it a final kick as it and the elementals entered the hollow eyes of the Dark Avatar. The Dark Avatar gave a wordless yell that shook the trees.

The Dark Avatar changed. The blackness turned green, and then burning white. The symbol in the centre of its chest stretched out, marking it as a White Lantern instead of a Black Lantern.

 _ALEC HOLLAND OF EARTH, LIVE!_

The earth shook under their feet, mimicking the natural disasters that were happening all over the world, only on a much smaller scale. The resurrected Swamp Thing glowed with the white light of Life.

"Whoa," Boston said.

That was an understatement.

The light faded and Swamp Thing turned back into his normal green self, though he was still over fifty feet tall.

"Thank you for your help," his voice rumbled. "Elementals, in the name of Life, I release you."

Swamp Thing shrank down to his normal size as the powers of the elements left him. Superman, Hawkman, Poison Ivy, Martian Manhunter and Wallflower reformed in front of him.

"Does anyone else have a headache?"Hawkman asked.

Supergirl flew a few feet into the air and looked around, scanning their environment with her x-ray vision. "Where's Siobhan?" she demanded.

She flew at Swamp Thing and gave him a powerful shake that would have killed a normal human. "Let her go!"

"I have," Swamp Thing said.

"Then why isn't she here?" Supergirl shouted.

"She is here," Swamp Thing told her. "She is all around us."

The wind blew through Supergirl's hair. She screamed and flew straight up, into the sky and out of sight.

So maybe she still had a bit of a rage problem.

"I'd better go," Superman said before taking off after his cousin.

"Would someone explain what just happened?" Poison Ivy asked.

"Short version, the Earth was dying and now it isn't," Boston said.

"Lovely," Poison Ivy said dryly. "Now get out of my park."

Boston turned to pick up the white Power Battery, only to find that it had vanished. "Typical," he grumbled.

Hawkman immediately took flight. Swamp Thing quietly sank into the ground and disappeared. Wallflower looked at Donna, who was shaking her head at Boston with a smile on her face.

"What day is it?" Wallflower asked.

"Tuesday," Donna said.

So Superboy had probably been going crazy looking for her for three days. And her brother was going to be mad. Great.

Poison Ivy tapped her foot impatiently. The rest of them quickly decided that it would be better for their health to be anywhere else.

* * *

 _Innocent_ \- Taylor Swift

* * *

A/n: One more chapter left. I am aware that no one is reading this. I'm writing it for myself at this point. Deal with it, FanFiction.

-Cynder2013


	15. Superboy-Prime (After)

Superboy-Prime

(After)

More than nine hundred years in the future there is a planet whose name does not matter. On this planet there is a boy whose name also does not matter in this time.

In another time he was called Superboy-Prime.

In another universe his name was Jon Lane Kent.

He should be dead.

This planet, with no name that matters, has something in common with a planet that existed a long, long time ago.

That planet was called Krypton.

If Superboy-Prime had known that this planet was going to go the way of that long ago Krypton he may not have been there at that time. Maybe, maybe not. It was hard to tell what Superboy-Prime would do anymore. Spending more than two years stuck in the 30th century had not been good for his already damaged psyche, mostly because he had spent that time in nearly complete isolation.

He tended to kill any sentient life-forms he came across and didn't leave much time for them to have long conversations.

Superboy-Prime had chosen to stay behind in the future for reasons known only to him when he had come there with the 21st century team of teenage superheroes known as the Teen Titans. Then he had gone back to the 21st century, killed some people, caused a few time paradoxes, and died.

And that should have been the end of him. But it wasn't.

Somehow he'd ended up back in the 30th century. Fast forward two years and he was on a planet whose name did not matter, looking for technology that had been left behind when the planet was evacuated.

Because the planet was going to explode, not that he knew that.

Superboy-Prime flipped over a lab bench. "It should be here!"

He growled and tore through a cabinet that was luckily empty of anything radioactive. "Where is it?"

A small sample of the tech that Superboy-Prime was looking for was in the lab, left behind in the rush to get off-planet, but he wouldn't be able to find it before the planet died. However, he was just close enough to it that when the planet tore itself apart from the inside out it did just what Superboy-Prime wanted it for.

Superboy-Prime went tumbling nine hundred years into the past and crash landed very near to the only other human/ Kryptonian hybrid currently in existence.

His name was Conner Kent.

He was called Superboy.

* * *

Conner's head shot up. He had been seconds away from falling asleep but something had woken him, and he was pretty sure it wasn't the box that Delilah had dropped trying to wake him.

"Cassie and I finished unpacking without you," she said. "You didn't get enough sleep during graduation?"

Their graduation ceremony had been the week before. For as much of an achievement as it was, it was very long and very boring.

"Ha," Conner said, looking around. "Did you hear something?"

"I'm not the one with super hearing," Delilah said. "Is something wrong?"

That was a somewhat unnecessary question. As members of the Teen Titans in New York City the answer was almost always, "Yes."

"I'm going to call Tim," Conner said.

Delilah nodded and went to fetch Cassie.

"I think we're being haunted," Cassie told Delilah when the other girl entered what had previously been the spare bedroom in Cassie's apartment.

"Why's that?" Delilah asked.

Cassie pointed to the book lying on the bed. It was one that Delilah had brought with her, a book about ghosts, which had been opened to a page about White Ladies.

"That book wasn't there a minute ago," Cassie said. "I'm pretty sure it was in the box you said not to touch."

Delilah felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. "It was."

"Hey," Conner said from the door, "Tim wants us in Time Square. Emergency."

He was already dressed as Superboy. Cassie quickly activated the Silent Armor.

"When it rains," Delilah mumbled. "Emutsoc." Wallflower's costume appeared.

They left though the nearest open window. The streets below them were filled with people running in the opposite direction in which they were flying. There was so much noise that none of them noticed the whispering wind following them, not even Superboy.

Time Square was painted with blood. There were bodies scattered every which way, torn to pieces, burnt, full of holes, and so obviously dead. There wasn't even a hint of anyone left alive.

Superboy stopped flying at the sight, causing Wallflower to collide with him in midair, which sent them both spinning like tops for several seconds while they got their balance back.

Those few seconds was more than enough time for the cause of the carnage to notice them.

"Kon-El!" Superboy-Prime bellowed.

He flew straight at them and grabbed Superboy by the shoulders. "Clone," he growled, shaking Superboy with enough force to kill an elephant. "Die."

Superboy-Prime punched Superboy into the ground and was about to fly after him when he was jerked to a stop by Wonder Girl's lasso. He tore uselessly at the burning lariat.

"This was made to stop Trigon," Wonder Girl told him. "You're not getting out."

"The clone's girlfriend," Superboy-Prime spat, able to work up the anger even as his life was being drained. "You should have been mine!"

Wonder Girl and the clone's actual girlfriend looked at each other.

"I'll check on Superboy," Wallflower said.

"I've got this," Wonder Girl agreed.

Wallflower flew down to the crater Superboy's fall had left in the pavement. Superboy was in the process of standing up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Superboy said. "Did you see the others?"

Wallflower shook her head. Superboy frowned. He looked around them like he expected the other Teen Titans to pop up any second.

"We should look for survivors," Wallflower suggested. "I'm sure the others will get here soon."

"I don't hear any heartbeats nearby," Superboy said.

He looked around again, more carefully this time, and his face went white. He flew past Wallflower and started dragging bodies aside. Wallflower went after him and reached his side just as he pulled a black-haired boy out of the pile.

It was Red Robin.

The wind blew the smell of blood in their faces. Wallflower made a sound like a crying kitten. Then, without any warning, she crumbled to the ground. Superboy just managed to catch her before she landed on a body. He left bloody handprints on her jacket.

"Wallflower, are you okay?"

Glowing blue eyes looked up at him. "Sorry, Superboy, Wallflower's not here."

Superboy immediately looked away from those eyes. "Get out of her body!" he demanded.

"Relax, Superboy. It's Trivia. Wallflower isn't in any condition to function right now."

Wonder Girl landed across from them with the husk of Superboy-Prime dragging behind her. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes," Superboy growled.

Wonder Girl took half a step back when she saw Wallflower's glowing irises.

Wallflower's, no, _Trivia's_ eyes landed on the body at the end of Wonder Girl's lasso. "Is he dead?"

"Who are you?" Wonder Girl asked.

"Call me Trivia," Trivia said. "Is he dead?"

Wonder Girl gave her lasso a shake that caused the barbs on its surface to dig even deeper into Superboy-Prime's flesh. "Almost. Trivia from back in June?"

Trivia gave a sad smile. "In the flesh."

"That's not your body," Superboy said. "GET. OUT."

Trivia started laughing. In the middle of a street filled with dead bodies this made her look a lot worse than she was.

"Any universe," she laughed. "You go to any Earth in the multiverse and any version of Superboy has the same berserk button!"

Superboy shook his head. Trivia had said that Wallflower wasn't in good condition, but looking at her Superboy had to wonder if Trivia was doing any better.

Trivia's last laugh turned into a sob. "Tim…Donna…Raven…I've seen all of you die so many times…"

"What?" Wonder Girl said. "Tim is…?"

She finally noticed the body that Superboy was standing over. She put a hand over her mouth and a single tear ran down her face.

"They're all dead," Trivia said. "Donna, Raven, Skitter, Aqualad…I didn't see White Canary though."

"She's with Green Arrow today," Superboy said hoarsely.

The three of them stood looking at Red Robin's body until they heard a helicopter overhead. Trivia looked up and then waved her hand, saying a spell under her breath. The carnage that covered Time Square was almost instantly blanketed in a sea of black body bags. Five such bags were lined up in front of Superboy, Wonder Girl and Trivia.

"We'll take our dead," Trivia said. "And others will come for theirs."

"Where do we go?" Wonder Girl asked. "And what do we do with _him_?"

They all looked at what was left of Superboy-Prime.

"Isn't he dead yet?" Trivia asked.

"Do we really want to kill him?" Superboy asked.

"Yes," Trivia said.

The Silent Armor's lariat retreated as Superboy-Prime's body crumbled to dust.

Wonder Girl shook her head. "Too late to change our minds now."

Trivia spat on the pile of dust that had been Superboy-Prime. "Burn in hell."

She looked at Wonder Girl and Superboy. "Let's get out of here."

* * *

"Where are we?" Superboy demanded.

Trivia hadn't given them a chance to protest before she whisked them away in a vortex of lights and sounds. Wonder Girl looked like she wanted to punch her through the nearest wall, but she didn't. Wallflower wouldn't be happy if she got sidelined for days with broken bones.

"This is my home," Trivia said. "It is…Well you start from your world and then go, uh, _sideways_. It's sort of between, so don't leave the building."

Wonder Girl scowled. "Or what?"

Trivia shook her head. "I don't know, but it probably won't be good for your health."

Superboy and Wonder Girl looked at each other. So, they didn't have a way out of there, and Trivia still had Wallflower's body held hostage even if they had. They were going to have to just go along with what she wanted until something came up.

"Don't we get a tour or something," Superboy asked, "so we know where the doors outside are?"

Glowing blue eyes blinked. Trivia tilted her head. Then she snapped her fingers and they were enveloped in another transporting tornado that deposited them at the top of a very tall staircase.

"We'll start at the top," Trivia said.

Trivia showed them every room in the tower that seemed to be wider at the top than at the bottom judging by the shortening length of the hallways as they went down. There was a library, an infirmary, and many, many bedrooms. Most of the bedrooms they saw looked lived in, with clothes scattered on the floor, and books and papers spread over desks, like their occupants were coming back any minute. One room was even lit with floating candles.

"Who else lives here?" Wonder Girl asked.

Trivia sighed. "No one, now."

There were three photos on the bedside table in one bedroom. One was of a large group of people standing in front of a T-shaped tower. Another was a candid photo of four people, three boys and a girl, sitting around a campfire and laughing together. The last photo was of two women and a man with their arms around each other smiling at the camera. Every person in these photos was dressed in some sort of costume.

Superboy immediately recognized the people in the last photo. They had different costumes and they were older, but it was unmistakably him, Wonder Girl and Wallflower.

He spotted Beast Boy's and Donna's faces in the large group photo. There was someone dressed nearly identically to the way Bart had dressed when he was being Kid Flash and a boy dressed like a Robin. A girl in the photo was wearing a dark, hooded cloak that wouldn't look out of place in Raven's wardrobe. There was a Kid Flash and a Robin in the last photo too, and Superboy, and Wonder Girl.

Superboy grabbed Trivia's arm just as she was about to close the door and pointed to the photos. "What is that? Some kind of joke?"

"No," Trivia said. "And, ow."

Superboy quickly let go of her arm, which was really Wallflower's arm. "Then what is it?"

"A memory," Trivia said softly. "Can you wait until we get to the ground floor? I'd rather explain everything at once."

They waited.

Once they reached the ground floor, Trivia led them to a large set of double doors and threw them open. "Welcome to the Memorial."

They entered a hall that was lined on both sides with stone statues raised up on plinths. Trivia immediately went to a statue at the other end of the hall of a woman with long hair and looked up at her face. She acted like Superboy and Wonder Girl weren't there, and they got the feeling that this was something she did every time she went into this hall.

It was.

The statue was of the woman who had killed her.

Superboy and Wonder Girl followed Trivia into the hall. Wonder Girl read some of the plaques at the bases of the statues they passed. They didn't get very far before Wonder Girl elbowed Superboy and hissed at him that he had to look at this.

The statue was of a masked woman wearing a jumpsuit and a belt very like Red Robin's. She was signing something with one hand that Wonder Girl didn't know but Superboy recognized as the American Sign Language sign "fly" as in an airplane.

The plaque by her feet read _Wallflower_.

Superboy cleared his throat loudly. Trivia looked over and saw which statue they were standing in front of.

"Are you going to explain now?" Wonder Girl asked.

Trivia nodded. She joined them in front of the statue of the other Wallflower.

"Do you remember how I said we were family?" she asked Superboy.

Superboy nodded slowly.

"We lived here," Trivia said, "when it was real. This was Titans Tower. We were the Teen Titans, lots of us. We were heroes, but more than that we were a family."

Trivia looked up at Wallflower's statue. "I was proud to say I died a Titan."

Wonder Girl gasped. "You were Wallflower."

Trivia nodded. "In another time, practically another universe."

"I saw it," Wonder Girl said.

Trivia looked at her with wide eyes. "How?"

"When you brought me and Wallflower back to life," Wonder Girl said, "you left behind some of your memories. Most of them were about the Black Lanterns but some…I think I got more than Wallflower. If she had seen you with your Superboy we would have figured out who you were a long time ago."

Trivia laughed. "Superboy never belonged to anyone, except Wonder Girl, when they felt like it."

Superboy blushed. Wonder Girl felt her own cheeks heat up.

Trivia laughed again. "Enough about our love lives. After I died I got to stick around as a ghost because of a deal I made with Hecate so that I could help fight the Black Lanterns. I did odd jobs for her and sometimes that meant that I had to go to a different universe."

"Multiverse theory," Superboy interrupted.

"Not just a theory," Trivia said. "Power Girl is from a different Earth, you know."

They hadn't known. It explained a lot about her powers actually, and was something that Superman and Batman would be interested in knowing.

Batman probably already knew.

"Anyway," Trivia said, "I was on my way back from one of those jobs when the multiverse…reset, for lack of a better word. Someone rebooted it and everything was different. Hecate didn't even remember that I worked for her, she kicked me out."

"Why weren't you affected?" Superboy asked.

"That's what I wanted to know," Trivia said. "I mean, Delilah had been rebooted along with everything else. Eventually I found out that I stayed the same because I wasn't in a universe when the reboot happened, I was between universes but my body was on your Earth so Delilah ended up existing too. I wasn't really interested in not existing anymore so I set up shop here, between universes."

"So when you say you've seen us die before-" Wonder Girl choked before she could go any further, the bodies of their friends that were lying in the entrance hall at the forefront of her mind.

Trivia smiled sadly. "There were some bumps in the road getting this new universe established. When too many 'important' people died there were minor resets that that brought everything back to how it was before it went wrong. Usually it was entire teams, the Justice League, the Justice League of America, the Teen Titans. Sometimes you guys didn't even team up before all of you died, which made the resets faster."

"Do you think there'll be a reset now?" Superboy asked. Their entire team was dead, and the universe didn't sound like it liked that.

Trivia frowned. "Maybe. There hasn't been one for almost six years, the way I'm counting, but with the Black Lanterns there have been a lot of important deaths."

"We could get them back," Wonder Girl said. "All of them."

Trivia shook her head. "Maybe, maybe not. It depends on what the universe wants."

"We should go back to Earth then," Superboy said. None of them would be part of the reset if they weren't on Earth.

Trivia shook her head again and told them that they would get plenty of warning if a reset was going to happen so they didn't have to go back just yet. Then she said that they should get some rest and were welcome to use any of the bedrooms. Wallflower's eyes stopped glowing when Trivia left her body. The ghost went out the door and disappeared. Since she didn't have a heartbeat Superboy wasn't able to keep track of her.

Wallflower swayed slightly before catching herself on the base of the other Wallflower's statue. "I can't believe they're dead."

Wonder Girl gave Wallflower a hug, which the other girl gratefully returned. Superboy gulped down tears that would not be helpful at the moment.

"I don't want to believe," Wonder Girl choked out.

"We could get them back," Superboy said. "We could get all of them back."

Wallflower shook her head. "At what cost? Guys, while Trivia was in my body…Actually, I guess it's our body really. That's messed up. But, anyway, I saw her life. Her team, her Teen Titans, they were so much better than we could ever be. They were more than a team, they were a family. They had been together though so much. We lost all of that."

Wonder Girl stepped back. "Our friends are dead! We could get them back, _and you don't want to_?"

"That's not what I mean!" Wallflower said. "There are spells, rituals, magical objects; I'll look for them by myself if Zatara won't help! I would die to bring our team back! But there are some things, some trials, that shouldn't be undone!"

Superboy stepped between the two girls before any weapons could be drawn. "Okay, deep breaths. It's been a long day, let's get some rest and we'll figure out what to do tomorrow."

Wonder Girl and Wallflower looked at Superboy and then looked back at each other. Things really were a mess. Superboy was being the voice of reason.

"We're safe enough here," Wallflower said slowly. "Trivia hasn't lied to us about anything. Omitted and implied, but not lied."

With that comforting statement the three Teen Titans climbed back up to the fifteenth floor of the tower, chose rooms with the least disturbing décor, and quickly fell asleep. Somehow they all slept soundly, even Wallflower.

Everyone in the building was woken up when the entire tower shook violently. Trivia flew through the wall of Wonder Girl's room. There wasn't time to bother with little things like doors.

"We have to leave," the ghost said. "Now."

In seconds the three living Titans had gathered in the hallway.

"What's happening?" Superboy asked as another tremor shook the building.

"A reset," Trivia said.

She flicked the fingers on her right hand, the one that didn't look like a bear had taken a bite out of it, and the five body bags appeared beside them. "Brace yourselves, this is gonna be a bumpy ride."

Trivia's transportation tornado threw them around until none of them knew which way was up. They landed in a heap on overgrown shrubbery in the middle of nowhere. Trivia was breathing heavily, even though she wasn't supposed to need to breathe.

"That bad?" Wallflower said.

Trivia nodded. The three Titans pushed themselves to their feet and stood next to the body bags that held their teammates.

"Will you be able to get back in time?" Wonder Girl asked Trivia.

Trivia shook her head. "I'm not going back."

Wonder Girl looked past the white hood that was hanging over Trivia's face and saw her jaw firmly set with determination. "Why not?"

"Six years, Cassie," Trivia said. "Have you ever been completely alone for six years? No, this time I'm staying with you."

Superboy put a hand on Trivia's shoulder and was only slightly surprised when his hand didn't pass right through her. "We aren't the people you knew."

Trivia scoffed. "You are, you've just forgotten."

"If you stay, you'll forget too," Wallflower pointed out.

Trivia shrugged. "Maybe, maybe not. We don't know what will happen. Maybe the universe will do us a favour and forget that Superboy-Prime existed."

She looked up at the sky. There were no clouds but lightning flashed. No thunder followed.

"It's time," Trivia said.

Superboy reached out and took Wallflower's hand. In turn, Wallflower took Wonder Girl's hand and then Wonder Girl wrapped her hand around what was left of Trivia's left hand.

"I love you guys," Wonder Girl whispered.

Lightning flashed.

* * *

Now

In a tower in a city there are two girls. They are called Wonder Girl and Power Girl. They just buried their friend. He was called Red Robin. His name was Tim Drake.

In the sky above the city there are two boys. They are called Bunker and Beast Boy. They just buried their friend. He was called Red Robin. Soon, Beast Boy will forget they were friends. He will join another team. Their leader will be called Robin. His name is Damian Wayne.

In a place between places there is another girl. She is called Raven. Her name is Raven. She just buried her friend. She will join the same team as Beast Boy. She will also forget.

In a secret place there are two boys. No one knows it, but they're dating. They'll break up soon, if one running away from the other can be called that, and then one of them will meet Robin's team. His name is Jackson Hyde. He will be called Aqualad.

In a city called Seattle there is a girl. Her name is Emiko Queen. Her brother is called the Green Arrow. Soon, she will be called the Red Arrow.

In another city there is a woman. She is Donna Troy. She is part of another team. They are called the Titans.

In a lab there is a scientist. Her name is Celine Patterson. When she comes out of her cocoon she is called Skitter. She hasn't gone into her cocoon for a long time.

In a town there is a team of vigilantes. They are called the Guardians. They call their leaders Guardian and Wallflower. Their names are James Harper and Delilah An. Sometimes, when her eyes glow blue, Wallflower is called Trivia.

In a simulation of a farm there is a boy. He doesn't know that his friend was just buried. He doesn't know anything that happens in the real world anymore. His name is Conner Kent. Some people call him Superboy.

In a small town, on a real farm there is a boy. He just moved there with his parents. His name is Jonathan Samuel Kent. He is also called Superboy.

There is no Superboy-Prime.

* * *

 _La La Latch_ \- Pentatonix (Sam Smith/Disclosure/Naughty Boy Mashup)

* * *

A/n: And that's it. This is the last chapter of "Superboy and the Invisible Girl". My thanks to anyone who has stuck around this long. I know this story was confusing, convoluted, and slow to update, but I had fun writing it and I hope some of you had fun reading it.

Cheers,

Cynder2013


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